"The Joy of Christ"

2 Corinthians 6:1–2,11–13 ¹Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ²For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. ¹²You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. ¹³In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

          Christianity is not a belief as the world might have us believe, it is a way of life and in fact it is life.  We start as infants and begin to learn by seeing and hearing taking it upon faith that we are being taught by those who know.  We then become children and now we learn by careful study as we have now been shown how to learn on our own.  But as children we also must have our time to play and enjoy the wonders of the world and the imagination God has gifted us with.

          It is this childhood that we sometimes lose and other times fear losing.  When we lose our childhood we forget to have fun and we also lose our faith.  When we fear losing our childhood we try to hang on to it and we do not grow.  However if we do not fear losing our childhood we grow and still are able to enjoy the wonders of the all the gifts God has given us.  We realize there is a time to learn and a time to play.  And both times are a time to feel joy.

          Joy is one of the gifts that God gives us and one that we do not realize we throw away.  The Corinthians were for the most part epicureans as they spent most of their time trying to gain happiness.  The problem with happiness is that if is not coupled with joy does not last long.  We get gifts from one another and we are happy with them for a fleeting moment and then we tire of them and that happiness is gone.  We find ourselves looking for the next happiness fix when we should be hanging on to the joy Christ died to give us.

Mark 4:38–41 ³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

          Our lives actually become easier to contend with when we realize that Christ is in our lives.  We will always have storms in our lives to contend with, and some of the storms will be worse than others.  Depending on our faith in God we will be able to stay the course even through the toughest of life's storms and feel the joy Christ gives us from the cross to His resurrection.

          Hebrews 12:2 ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

          The storm Christ endured was greater than any we could face on our own.  Jesus took all our sin past, present, and future on His shoulders and endured the great pain that the law demanded to be paid.  I'm not sure what eternal pain would feel like, but praise Jesus Christ that He suffered it for you and me. 

          Christianity is life and in this life of Christ there is joy and the joy is that Christ takes care of us through forgiveness and salvation.  God our Father takes care of us through what He provides and the vocation we have.  The Holy Spirit comes along and fills us with joy through God's word and builds up our faith so we can feel the joy God wants us to have.

          Christian life is a life to share in joy and as we share this joy with others Christ than starts to work in those whom we share with.  Christianity is joy!  Joy is knowing we have a God who loves us and cares for us even in an eternal relationship.  Is that just awesome knowing we are the joy of Christ forever?  Amen.

"What We Have In Common, Is Jesus Christ"

Ezekiel 17:22–23a ²²Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. ²³On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar.

          Judah is now in the middle of its Babylonian captivity and Ezekiel is one of three prophets that bring good news to the people of Judah.  The good news is that their God will bring them back to a great nation on their own again.  A cedar tree can be 130 ft. tall and about 8.5 ft. in diameter, which makes it a very large and exceptional tree.  This is mankind, we were created to be exceptional among the roaming life God created to walk the earth. 

The sprig from the top of the cedar is smaller than the other branches that are lower to the ground.  The sprig is the Hebrew nation God started through the covenant with Abraham.  And, it is God who decided that He would reconcile with His creation through this small sprig and build a nation under Him and this nation would be noble in eyes of the world.

          Ezekiel shows his people the history of how they became the chosen of God to be His nation.  That sprig could have been any other small nation, but God chose those who would be the offspring of Abraham.  Not because they were any better than any other nation, however more because of the faith Abraham had already been given through his relationship with God.

          Ezekiel 17:23b And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest.

          Just within one nation there are many different people of different talents and different status.  There are also people who came from different nations and become grafted into the nation they now claim to be citizens of.  Though there are differences they still have something in common, they support the belief that the nation they show patriotism to is their nation.  Having the patriotism to their nation is one of the great tools for that nation to grow.

          Mark 3:24-25 ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

          Sometimes our personal desires get in the way of our true patriotism and through our desires we are divided and divided we fall.  So where should our patriotism be, in our nation, in our desires, or in God who created all nations.  We come from as all people do, through the creation of Adam and Eve of which we should die from daily.  As we die from Adam we are then born into Christ and now come from the spirit of God.  It is God who gives us rebirth through our baptism and also through the forgiveness Christ worked so hard to die for.

          Ezekiel 17:23b–24 ²⁴And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

          We are the birds of every kind and we like birds fly in and fly out, but in this we have something in common and that is we build our nest among the trees.  Each tree is a nation and each nation is created through the works of God.  But it is the tree of life we should see that God prepared to give us the shelter we need to live.

          Jesus is that tree of life; through Him we find our salvation and Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the word of God works to bring us into the faith.  The Holy Spirit and the Word of God builds our faith so that we can have all in common. 

We have everything in common because we are all sinners and have a sinful nature; but most importantly is that we belong to the nation, that is, the kingdom of God.  This is what Christ died for so that we can all be reconciled back into the nation of God.  Amen.

"For Our Sake"

2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1 ¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

          We have all been convicted of a crime and found guilty through evidence that is beyond questioning.  There is nothing we can do to change this verdict and we are waiting for the execution of punishment that fitting to our crime.  We stand waiting and knowing that our punishment is to be eternal death, eternal suffering, and eternal humiliation. What are we going to feel?

          Some might try to plead an appeal, but the evidence is too conclusive to change the verdict.  Some might try paying penitence but the cost is so insurmountable to pay that even a monetary apology could never be enough.  The verdict stands, we wait for our executioner to show his face.  We might even try to be genuinely sorry and plead that we won't do it again, but our track record says we will and the verdict stands the punishment waits to be carried out. 

          We are guilty of a crime and the law demands our punishment is eternal death.  The punishment will be carried out sometime in the future to give us plenty of time to think about what we did and about the fate we deserve.  There is no escape plan to come.  We are trapped and not even a place to hide.  Life is over as we knew it.  We are left in our sorrow, helplessness, and we are weak and powerless.  It is nothing less than a gloomy depressing outlook to a miserable existence.

          2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1 ¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

          The sorrow, helplessness and powerless gloom and doom of our convicted status are those things that are seen and are transient, brief, and temporary.  What!!!?  What are we going to feel?  Luke 7:44-48 is the story of the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and her hair.  She knew her convicted status, she knew she is a sinner, and the punishment for her sins was eternal death.  Yet she washed the feet of Jesus not to gain favor but to show her repenting heart and sorrow for what she had done in the name of sin.  The other reason for this woman's tears was to show her love for Jesus.  What love did this women have for Jesus?  It is quite simple, this woman loved Jesus for His mercy, and for His grace given to her through forgiveness.  Do we realize Christ forgiveness comes through His love for us?

          We stand waiting our punishment and love little because we do not realize the reality of our situation with God.  We live in denial of the gospel given to us by the physical suffering, the suffering of humiliation, and the dying through suffocation and loss of blood that Jesus our Christ endured "for our sake."

          We stand convicted ready to be put into death, and someone comes to our executioner and say WAIT!!!  This punishment will not take place with these people for they belong to God!  I will take their place and die for their crime.  Let them go to their Father and He will wash away their inflictions with my blood.  The Father will give them the reward of everlasting relationship and eternal life because I will pay the ransom and they will become adopted into my family by my Father and become my brothers and sisters.

2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1 ¹For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

          Through the mercy God we are saved from eternal death and punishment.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ we are forgiven through His grace and given eternal life in God's new earth and new heaven.  Amen.