Sermon-Sunday January 25, 2009
Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news. This is what Jesus comes proclaiming to the people of Galilee in this morning’s Gospel lesson. And indeed this week, there has been much suggestion that now, with the inauguration of President Barack Obama we are entering a new day, filled with a new hope and change we can believe in.
Over the past several months we have heard much about the troubled state of our nation’s economy. We have heard how our national debt has grown to a degree, the likes of which we have never seen. We have seen the inauguration, we have seen the celebrations. We have seen all of the celebrities supporting our new president. We have seen and even perhaps heard iconic music artists performing at the inauguration and some of the parties connected to it. Yeah, we seem to be entering some sort of new day filled with hope.
Jesus announces the coming of the kingdom of God. And it seems this week we sort of welcomed a new “king.” Could this ‘new day’ that we are entering be a sign of the kingdom of God?? Judging by some of the coverage and reaction to this event, some may think so. But, when we look at the lesson from 1st Corinthians this morning we see that through the words of Paul, our Lord gives us reason to not be so quick to think so.
Now I am not trying to rain on anybody’s parade or downplay the historical significance of the first African-American president. And I am not trying to display any sort of partisanship. I hope and pray, and am cautiously optimistic that President Obama will do well and bring positive and fruitful change to our nation.
But again, in our second lesson, our Lord comes to us with a Word that tells us that the final fulfillment of the coming of the kingdom of God, the day when Christ returns and the old will be done away with and all things will be made new will be marked by events that actually look quite a bit different from all the pomp and splendor that we have seen this past week.
For Paul says that the day of the Lord, when Christ returns will be a day when those who deal with the world should live as though they had no dealings with it. Paul says that the present form of this world is passing away.
This is how the kingdom of God comes among us; not with great pomp and splendor, not with earthly power and earthly glory, not with great celebration. No, the coming of the kingdom of God is marked by the present form of this world passing away. The kingdom of God does not come merely to improve the world we live in, it does not come to boost our economy, or to fix our health care crisis, or to end what some politicians might describe as ‘torture.’
The kingdom of God does not come merely to fix this world. The kingdom of God comes, quite literally to replace this world. The kingdom of God comes, to make all things new. The complete fulfillment of the kingdom of God is the all things new that we wait for. The kingdom of God is among us today when we are gathered together in faith around God’s Word and sacrament, but we also await it’s complete fulfillment when the old will be done away with and all things will be made new.
This is what some refer to as living in the now and the not yet. The kingdom is here when God’s people are gathered in faith around God’s Word and sacraments, but we also still live in the old world, in the midst of sin and the devil. Yes, we still live in the midst of sin and the devil. When you wake up in the morning, it’s right there with you; sin and the devil. When you go to work, it’s right there with you; sin and the devil. When you have lunch, it’s right there with you; sin and the devil. When you go to sleep at night, it’s right there with you; sin and the devil. And even in the midst of all the hope and splendor of a new president, who has rightly called on us to do our part, but still has promised to improve the lives of so many people, even in the midst of all the hope a new president; it’s right there with us, sin and the devil.
And so our Lord continually calls us to Himself, so as to constantly keep us focused on Him as we still live in the midst of the attacks of sin and the devil, and as we daily give in to the temptations that sin and the devil throw our way. Still our Lord constantly call us back to Himself.
This is what our Lord was doing for the Ninevites through the Word that he brought to them through the prophetic message delivered to them through Jonah. He was calling them to repent by warning them that in forty days more Nineveh would be overthrown. And, much to the surprise of the stubborn Jonah, they repented.
They repented. It says that they proclaimed a fast and everyone put on sackcloth. By the way, anytime you hear about someone, in the Old Testament, putting on sackcloth, more than likely that refers to someone repenting. In verse 8, it says that they turned from their evil ways and the violence that was in their hands. But, most importantly, the first thing it says that they did, is that they believed.
They believed the word delivered to them by God through the prophet Jonah. They believed that God was angry at them. They believed that God would overthrow Nineveh. They didn’t worry about how politically incorrect what Jonah was saying to them sounded. They didn’t argue with Jonah that he was presenting to them an image of God that didn’t jive with their pre-conceived notions of God. They simply believed the word of condemnation, as harsh is it may have seemed to them, that Jonah was delivering to them. The Ninevites recognized and acknowledged that they had sinned against God, and so they repented.
They repented and God changed His mind about the calamity that He was going to bring upon them. There is no embarrassment to the Old Testament that it says that God changed His mind. God was simply being faithful to His nature and His promise. He was simply staying true to who He is; the Almighty Creator of the universe who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He is simply showing the mercy and grace that He promises to show to those who would repent and believe upon Him.
And we see the ultimate revelation of this grace and mercy, not in the great political leaders that God would put into power over the years, not through economic prosperity, but through the forgiveness of our sin in Christ Jesus our Lord, when He laid down His life for us on the cross and took upon Himself all of our sin, paying the price that we could not pay.
And so, like He called the Ninevites to repentance through a very stubborn and sinful Jonah, our Lord calls you to repentance, today through the words of my mouth and daily also through the Holy Spirit in God’s Word.
But where the Ninevites repented in hopes of God’s mercy, we are called to repent in the promise of God’s mercy and forgiveness fulfilled for us in Christ Jesus. We repent, not to our good works, but to our knees at the foot of cross where we see God’s mercy and the forgiveness of our sin. Right there on the cross, we see the present form of earthly power and earthly glory passing away, so as to make way for God’s glory in mercy and forgiveness.
And so we know that God is faithful and keeps His promises as He did in the arrival of Christ Jesus and the forgiveness of our sin and our justification that comes through His perfect life, death and resurrection. Christ Jesus’ arrival marked the coming near of the kingdom of God. And so through His faithfulness already fulfilled we know that we can trust that He will faithfully fulfill His promised return when the present form of this world will pass away, and all things will be made new and the Kingdom of God will be completely fulfilled and we will have a place in it for all eternity.
And so, having been redeemed and forgiven He comes to us daily calling us to repentance and forgiveness. And so all we can do is live our lives focused first on the cross of Christ, where in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for us, we find our life and forgiveness, and then having been freed to take the focus away from our needs we are freed to focus on the needs of our neighbor, bringing to them the hope and forgiveness in word and deed that we have in the real One, Christ Jesus who has made us new by bringing us faith in Him and what He has done for us and who will make all things new in the midst of the passing away of the present form of this old world.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news. This is what Jesus comes proclaiming to the people of Galilee in this morning’s Gospel lesson. And indeed this week, there has been much suggestion that now, with the inauguration of President Barack Obama we are entering a new day, filled with a new hope and change we can believe in.
Over the past several months we have heard much about the troubled state of our nation’s economy. We have heard how our national debt has grown to a degree, the likes of which we have never seen. We have seen the inauguration, we have seen the celebrations. We have seen all of the celebrities supporting our new president. We have seen and even perhaps heard iconic music artists performing at the inauguration and some of the parties connected to it. Yeah, we seem to be entering some sort of new day filled with hope.
Jesus announces the coming of the kingdom of God. And it seems this week we sort of welcomed a new “king.” Could this ‘new day’ that we are entering be a sign of the kingdom of God?? Judging by some of the coverage and reaction to this event, some may think so. But, when we look at the lesson from 1st Corinthians this morning we see that through the words of Paul, our Lord gives us reason to not be so quick to think so.
Now I am not trying to rain on anybody’s parade or downplay the historical significance of the first African-American president. And I am not trying to display any sort of partisanship. I hope and pray, and am cautiously optimistic that President Obama will do well and bring positive and fruitful change to our nation.
But again, in our second lesson, our Lord comes to us with a Word that tells us that the final fulfillment of the coming of the kingdom of God, the day when Christ returns and the old will be done away with and all things will be made new will be marked by events that actually look quite a bit different from all the pomp and splendor that we have seen this past week.
For Paul says that the day of the Lord, when Christ returns will be a day when those who deal with the world should live as though they had no dealings with it. Paul says that the present form of this world is passing away.
This is how the kingdom of God comes among us; not with great pomp and splendor, not with earthly power and earthly glory, not with great celebration. No, the coming of the kingdom of God is marked by the present form of this world passing away. The kingdom of God does not come merely to improve the world we live in, it does not come to boost our economy, or to fix our health care crisis, or to end what some politicians might describe as ‘torture.’
The kingdom of God does not come merely to fix this world. The kingdom of God comes, quite literally to replace this world. The kingdom of God comes, to make all things new. The complete fulfillment of the kingdom of God is the all things new that we wait for. The kingdom of God is among us today when we are gathered together in faith around God’s Word and sacrament, but we also await it’s complete fulfillment when the old will be done away with and all things will be made new.
This is what some refer to as living in the now and the not yet. The kingdom is here when God’s people are gathered in faith around God’s Word and sacraments, but we also still live in the old world, in the midst of sin and the devil. Yes, we still live in the midst of sin and the devil. When you wake up in the morning, it’s right there with you; sin and the devil. When you go to work, it’s right there with you; sin and the devil. When you have lunch, it’s right there with you; sin and the devil. When you go to sleep at night, it’s right there with you; sin and the devil. And even in the midst of all the hope and splendor of a new president, who has rightly called on us to do our part, but still has promised to improve the lives of so many people, even in the midst of all the hope a new president; it’s right there with us, sin and the devil.
And so our Lord continually calls us to Himself, so as to constantly keep us focused on Him as we still live in the midst of the attacks of sin and the devil, and as we daily give in to the temptations that sin and the devil throw our way. Still our Lord constantly call us back to Himself.
This is what our Lord was doing for the Ninevites through the Word that he brought to them through the prophetic message delivered to them through Jonah. He was calling them to repent by warning them that in forty days more Nineveh would be overthrown. And, much to the surprise of the stubborn Jonah, they repented.
They repented. It says that they proclaimed a fast and everyone put on sackcloth. By the way, anytime you hear about someone, in the Old Testament, putting on sackcloth, more than likely that refers to someone repenting. In verse 8, it says that they turned from their evil ways and the violence that was in their hands. But, most importantly, the first thing it says that they did, is that they believed.
They believed the word delivered to them by God through the prophet Jonah. They believed that God was angry at them. They believed that God would overthrow Nineveh. They didn’t worry about how politically incorrect what Jonah was saying to them sounded. They didn’t argue with Jonah that he was presenting to them an image of God that didn’t jive with their pre-conceived notions of God. They simply believed the word of condemnation, as harsh is it may have seemed to them, that Jonah was delivering to them. The Ninevites recognized and acknowledged that they had sinned against God, and so they repented.
They repented and God changed His mind about the calamity that He was going to bring upon them. There is no embarrassment to the Old Testament that it says that God changed His mind. God was simply being faithful to His nature and His promise. He was simply staying true to who He is; the Almighty Creator of the universe who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He is simply showing the mercy and grace that He promises to show to those who would repent and believe upon Him.
And we see the ultimate revelation of this grace and mercy, not in the great political leaders that God would put into power over the years, not through economic prosperity, but through the forgiveness of our sin in Christ Jesus our Lord, when He laid down His life for us on the cross and took upon Himself all of our sin, paying the price that we could not pay.
And so, like He called the Ninevites to repentance through a very stubborn and sinful Jonah, our Lord calls you to repentance, today through the words of my mouth and daily also through the Holy Spirit in God’s Word.
But where the Ninevites repented in hopes of God’s mercy, we are called to repent in the promise of God’s mercy and forgiveness fulfilled for us in Christ Jesus. We repent, not to our good works, but to our knees at the foot of cross where we see God’s mercy and the forgiveness of our sin. Right there on the cross, we see the present form of earthly power and earthly glory passing away, so as to make way for God’s glory in mercy and forgiveness.
And so we know that God is faithful and keeps His promises as He did in the arrival of Christ Jesus and the forgiveness of our sin and our justification that comes through His perfect life, death and resurrection. Christ Jesus’ arrival marked the coming near of the kingdom of God. And so through His faithfulness already fulfilled we know that we can trust that He will faithfully fulfill His promised return when the present form of this world will pass away, and all things will be made new and the Kingdom of God will be completely fulfilled and we will have a place in it for all eternity.
And so, having been redeemed and forgiven He comes to us daily calling us to repentance and forgiveness. And so all we can do is live our lives focused first on the cross of Christ, where in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for us, we find our life and forgiveness, and then having been freed to take the focus away from our needs we are freed to focus on the needs of our neighbor, bringing to them the hope and forgiveness in word and deed that we have in the real One, Christ Jesus who has made us new by bringing us faith in Him and what He has done for us and who will make all things new in the midst of the passing away of the present form of this old world.
Amen
posted by Steve at 5:15 PM
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