Monday, July 12, 2010

Sermon July 11th, 2010

St. Jacobi Worship Service July 11th, 2010 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.



Grace, mercy and peace are yours form God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Galatians 6:14
DOES MY BOAST MAKE ME LOOK GOOD? OR JESUS?

In the name of Jesus, our crucified and risen Savior, dear fellow redeemed children of God:
This week the pro basketball world was held in suspense as one of its very good players made his decision about where he was going to play next year. I’m sure it was good for the NBA for people to be talking about basketball in July but the whole story seemed to get really old. Six or seven teams arranged for him to visit their cities while they made their pitch to him. After much publicity LaBron James made his decision to leave his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers and sign with the Miami Heat on orchestrated nationally televised show on ESPN. The whole thing may have made a whole bunch of money for LaBron, the NBA and the Miami Heat but it sure didn’t make LaBron James look very good in the eyes of many people.
How about the things we do in our lives? Believe it or not I’ve never been courted by a single NBA team, despite my great height. Still this part of God’s word gives me a chance to look at my life too- the things I take pride in, the things I boast about and the things the world sees when they look at me. It gives you the same opportunity. So let’s ask ourselves, “Does my boasting make me look good? Does it make Jesus look good?
Paul’s letter to the Galatians is the first book in the New Testament that a young man studies in depth at the Seminary when he is studying to be a pastor. In that course, a whole class period can be spent studying just one or two verses. Paul’s letter to the Galatians takes such a high place in our Seminary curriculum because it warns us against an error which God’s people fall into quite easily, that of putting their trust in their own good works they have done rather than in the cross of Christ-in other words boasting about themselves rather than boasting only in what Jesus has done for us.
Paul is writing the words of our text to the Galatians who for the moment were under the influence of some MVB’s- Most Valuable Boasters. These men were called the Judaizers. These Judaizers were constantly bragging about the fact that had been circumcised that they had a physical mark on their bodies that at time indicated that they were physical descendants of Abraham. They even went so far as to let their hope of eternal life rest on the fact that they had been circumcised. These Judaizers were so good at boasting that they had talked the Galatian Christians into believing that circumcision and observing the Old Testament ceremonial law was just as important if not more important than believing in Jesus. God through the Apostle Paul, set the Galatians straight on what they could and could not boast about. Paul writes, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.”
Paul makes it abundantly clear that when you boast in the cross of Christ, you are going to look at everything in a very different light. Boasting in the cross of Christ means that the world has been crucified to me and to you. In other words things like neat possessions and the cool things we can do or have done mean nothing. When it comes to looking at everything in a whole new light, the Apostle Paul had firsthand experience. Remember that Paul was one of the best players in the NPA, the National Pharisee Association. He had been a feared Christian killer. So he took pride in the fact that he was a descendant of Abraham, a Pharisee of the top rank and he killed Christians who put their trust in Jesus. On the way to kill more Christians in Damascus, the Lord he was fighting against brought that new light to his eyes when he struck Paul down in a blinding light. The Holy Spirit then brought this Christian killer to be a Christian himself. He stopped boasting about himself and began to cling to the cross of Christ. God worked this switch in St, Paul from boasting in himself to boasting in the cross of Christ in a very sudden and dramatic way. For most of us that switch came in a less dramatic way, but it was still a miracle. Some of us started boasting in the cross of Christ when we were baptized„ when before we could lift our heads on our own, God turned our eyes of faith and fixed them firmly of the cross of Jesus. For others, God worked that change with his powerful word, bringing us to see that the thing which rescued us from a wretched death in hell forever was the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross in our place.
What kinds of things might we boast about? We might boast that we were not a Christian killer like Paul. But chances are we would not boast as much about not being a Christian killer as we would about not being as bad as someone else. We might think things like, “There is a neighbor down my street. He never goes to church.” Or we might think, “My attendance record at church is perfect- Much better than some of those who say that they are members.” Then there are all the boasts that churn down inside of us that we would never let vomit out of our mouths but they are still there. God sees them. God hears the unsaid sinful boast. Does that kind of boasting make me look good? Does it make Jesus look good?
How do you react when you hear someone boast? Doesn’t it sort of grind on your ears? Do you remember Haman from the account of how God saved His people through Queen Esther? Remember how his boasts about his belly and hatred of Mordecai so filled his belly that the story ended with him dead on a gallows he meant for Mordecai? Isn’t it true that boasting about ourselves has an inverse effect on what people think us? If we hear someone boasting his great big boat or his new fast car, does that make us want to hang around that person and ride in his new care or boat? No, when boasts are spewed out into the air it usually sends people running in the opposite direction. If prideful boasts have that effect on people imagine that effect that sinful boasting has on our holy God. My sinful boasts don’t make me look good at all. Before a just and holy God we can’t even eek out a little boast about what a good life we’ve led. God’s word says, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet offends at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” Paul points out earlier in Galatians, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
God saw right through the sinful boasts of the people who were trying to pull the Galatian Christians away from Jesus. “Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh.” So they wanted to avoid having people persecute them for believing that forgiveness and eternal life come to us only because of what Jesus has done and they wanted to boast about what a good job they were doing in winning over converts to their work righteousness. Their work- their boasting didn’t make Jesus look good either.
What kind of actions bring honor to our Savior? Actions that bring honor to Jesus are actions that come from thankfulness for all that Jesus has done for us. God talks about those actions in the verses in the reading from Galatians. “Brothers if someone is caught in a sin you who are spiritual should restore him gently…Bear each other’s burdens… Let us not become weary in doing good… therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all people especially to those who belong to family of believers.” Those are the kind of words from our mouth and actions that let our light shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Boasting in the cross of Christ will not bring the CNN reporters on the run nor will we be featured on an ESPN special entitled “Christian brings honor to His Savior.” “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” Those who boast in the cross of Christ are crucified to the world. The world might look at us the same way that people looked at Jesus on the cross. Many looked with scorn on Jesus as he was carrying out the greatest rescue mission of love the world has ever seen. So also the world may think we are foolish for “turning away wrath with a kind word” and not “repaying evil with evil.”
Brothers and sisters can have a way of bringing us back to reality. Mine had sort of a unique way of humbling me. They would see me carrying a box or something and they would say, “Oh you are strong”…my chest and my head would start to swell…”strong smelling that is.” As Christians we have something far better to brag about than our strength We have Jesus. On the cross he took away the things we’ve done wrong. Because of him we don’t have to be afraid of dying. It is the door to heaven. May all of our boasting always be about Jesus and His cross through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Amen.

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