Sanctification Sermon

     Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Here is my Sermon from this morning.  I preached it last night and this morning and both times went very well.  Just a little context, we had an adult baptism in the service this morning.  The guy getting baptized is named Joe, so that is who I talking about when I mention Joe in the sermon.  The picture is the visual aid.  The "second mirror" is the bottom left and the "third mirror" is the bottom right.  Hopefully that helps.  God's blessings on your week!  I have to go start and finish quite a bit of homework.

Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

       Today I want us to focus in on one part of the text. I want us to look specifically at verses 23. “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The reason I want us to focus on these verses is because of the phrase Paul uses in verse 23. Here Paul uses the phrase, “sanctify you completely.” This passage comes at the conclusion of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. The letter itself is overall pretty positive; Paul is happy with the Thessalonians and dearly cherishes them. Then here in this conclusion he encourages them with the hope that the God of peace himself sanctify them completely. Why does Paul include this? Why does Paul want them to be sanctified completely?
      Well I have a visual aid today that will hopefully help us see why Paul thinks this is so important. I have to admit that while I did not make this visual aid, I did help with the idea of it and then my friend actually made if for a class project. (PULL OUT AID) 

 

      This project represents the process of sanctification. So we start here on top with the first mirror. This mirror is unscratched and unbroken; it’s still a new good mirror. In Genesis 1:26 God made man, male and female, in His own image, His own likeness. This does not mean God has arms and legs and looks just Adam and Eve, but His image is referring to His perfect holiness. Adam and Eve were a reflection of His perfect holiness. They were made perfectly holy with the ability to choose between right or wrong, the ability to obey God or not obey God. They were the perfect, unbroken reflection of God’s holiness like this perfect unbroken mirror.
      But as we know how the story goes, they chose not to obey God and they had lost that image of God, they lost their perfect holiness because the sin that they brought into the world is the hammer that smashed the second mirror to pieces. This second mirror is the state you and I and every human ever since Adam and Eve are stuck in. We can now only see our lives through the brokenness, distortion, and separation of sin. We are no longer that perfect holy image of God; we cannot choose to obey God. We can only choose the sin that keeps us broken and separated.
     That is until God entered our life and went to work. By calling us into our faith, He immediately went to work to fix our brokenness. He sent His Son to be our Savior who died for our sins, but even more importantly who also rose from the dead to be our living and reigning Lord. And our Living Lord sent His Spirit to be with us, to call us into the faith that fixes our brokenness, and to be the one who sanctifies us. The Spirit’s work of sanctifying us is putting all those broken pieces of the shattered mirror back together. He puts the pieces of our broken sinful lives back together so that we can once again reflect that holiness of God’s own image. So here in the third mirror the pieces are all together again as the Spirit is working to sanctify us. However, notice two things. First, the mirror is still full of cracks. That is because we are still sinners even as the Spirit works to sanctify us. We will continue to have the cracks of sins in our lives as long as we remain in this sinful world. Second, notice the WHITE cross painted on the mirror. I emphasis WHITE, because while it is through the cross that Christ died for our sins, this WHITE empty cross represents the victory we have through His resurrection. It is empty because Christ is no longer on the cross, and it white, the color of Easter to show that through the victory of the empty, Easter cross, the victory of Christ’s resurrection we now have the Spirit and are being sanctified.
      However, this sanctification process is not an easy task for the Holy Spirit, because we again and again resort back to our old sinful ways, our old sinful habits. We continue to choose the sinful life of brokenness and distortion. We through our sin put ourselves right back here (point to second mirror) daily. The Spirit works hard and He works daily to keep bringing us back here (point to third mirror), to keep trying to put us back together every time we let ourselves fall back into sin. This cycle of falling into sin, but then through daily confession and absolution being pulled back together, is the Spirit working in us daily.
       The Spirit, who we received in our baptism, is truly daily working to make us the people of God who reflect His holiness. Joe, you today have become one of God’s chosen children, you have received the assured sign of the Holy Spirit of our Risen and Living Lord, and the Spirit immediately went to work in you to put those broken pieces of your sinful life back together. And He will continue to work in your life, sanctifying you every day. Just as the Spirit is working in each and every one of us every day to put those broken pieces back together so that we can reflect the holiness of our God.
      So what does this sanctification look like in real life? What does this sanctification look like in us? Well let’s go back to the text for today. In verses 16 through 18, Paul tells us to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances.” Paul sees these particular things in our lives as the reflection of the perfect holiness of our God in us.
      So this very morning we rejoice that Joe has become an official child of God through the water and the Word. I personally believe any baptism is such a joyous occasion as a pastor, but it is even more joyous in my mind when an adult comes to know Jesus Christ and desires to have the name of our Triune God placed upon him or herself. You will all rejoice next Sunday as you listen to the children retell the story of Jesus being born and hear them sing praises to their infant born king, and as you hear them sing the glorious Christmas hymns. We as the holy people of God reflect His holiness as we rejoice.
      As the holy people of God, we pray. We pray every Sunday to God several times in the service. Hopefully we all pray every morning, before every meal, and every evening before bed. Prayer is such an amazing gift that we are able to go directly to God and talk to him. Luther’s explanation to the introduction of the Lord’s Prayer says that “God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that will all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear Father.” And prayer is powerful, not only because we know God hears every prayer, but because it makes us feel better to have someone else pray for us. This last week in class our professor asked us to split up into groups of two and pray for each other. So my friend that sits next to me and I went to the back corner. He went first and asked, “Kevin, how can I pray for you today.” I shared with him some of the stresses of my life of school work and anxiety for the future. I also shared some things about my parents and siblings and things going on in their lives. Then I asked him the same question and he shared with me some stuff going on with him, his wife, and his kids. And then we prayed for each other. And as I sat there listening to him pray for me and my family, I knew he wasn’t praying for me just because the professor told him to. No, he was genuinely praying for me and sincerely asking God to be with me and my family. I felt comforted and as if some of my burden was being lifted off of me. I hope he felt the same way as I prayed for him. Prayer is such an amazing thing.
      I met an older woman somewhere one time, I can’t remember where I met her, but I remember she told me she tried to pray for everyone in her life every day. However, it was just too exhausting of a task to do every day. So what she learned to do was any time she learned about anything going on in someone’s life, she would go home and write in on a notecard. Then she would place that notecard in the stack of notecards next to her bed. Every morning she would pray for five of the notecards and every evening she would pray for another five. She told me once your notecard goes in her stack, it stays in the stack and that her stack was getting rather large. But every day without ceasing she would pray for ten or fifteen of these people in her life. The Spirit was working in her life to sanctify her to reflect that holy image of our God.
     As the holy people of God we also give thanks. Thanksgiving was now already three weeks ago. But I am sure you can all still remember everything you were thankful for. Hopefully, we are reminded every day of all of the amazing blessings we have to be thankful for and all of the wonderful people that surround us. But notice Paul says to give thanks in EVERY situation. On my road trip with a friend over thanksgiving break, we ended up driving through a blizzard in Michigan and through some high winds in Ohio. Every time we stopped for gas or food, I thanked the Lord we had made it that much further. We give thanks in every situation, because we know God is there with us helping us through it.
      The Spirit works in us to put those broken pieces of our sinful lives back together so that we do rejoice, pray, and give thanks, reflecting the perfect holiness of our God.
    And so as Paul continues in verse 23, “may the God of peace sanctify you completely, so that your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He is encouraging them to be assured that the Spirit is working this sanctification in them so that on that last and final day, when Jesus Christ comes again, we may be found blameless. The resurrection of our Lord, that first Easter, the white empty cross, is a glimpse of the victory that will be in our Lord’s Second coming. Then when He comes again, sin and evil will be defeated once and for all, the final enemy of death will be destroyed. Those cracks that remain in the third mirror will be completely removed and you will be made perfectly holy. You will be made wholly holy! You will be made into the top mirror and will reflect God’s perfect holiness. You will be that perfect image of God, just as He made Adam and Eve. This is the good news Paul is proclaiming at the end of the letter and it is the good news I proclaim to you this day: May the God of Peace himself, sanctify each and every one of you COMPLETELY, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our God who made you, our God who called you into the faith, our God who sanctifies you is faithful, and He will surly do it. 

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Is Health Biblical?

      Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our King!  I am finding out very quickly that trying to juggle 16 credits of school, several hours of work, and still as much time with friends as possible simply means sleep goes out the window.  I am so ready to be back out in the ministry just so I can have a normal routine and a decent sleep schedule again.
      I only have a short break but wanted to propose what we discussed in class today.  We were talking about creation and how do we take proper care of the creation that has been given to us. Part of this discussion led to the fact that our bodies are a gift of creation that has been given to us to take care of.  However, is it Biblical that we must eat healthy and be in fit shape?  If so, I am curious what passages or verses you go to.  1 Corinthians 6, body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, is specifically speaking about sexual immorality in the context of the whole passage.  So what scriptures tell us we must eat only healthy food and exercise to be in top condition?
     Now obviously, we should take care of ourselves but as this professor (who is in pretty good shape by the way)  pointed out that isn't it more important to follow the two great commands of loving your God with all you heart, soul, and might; and love your neighbor as yourself?  Wouldn't this world be a much better place if we loved our neighbors for who they are instead of worrying about how they are taking care of their body?  I appreciated this because obviously I am a bigger guy, but especially because this is such a first world problem.  Only in America do we spend extra money to buy delicious food in huge amounts, to turn around and spend more money at the gym working off that food.  And in a lot of cases, working out and being fit can become just as much an obsession and sinful as over eating and being lazy.  So I am not telling you to stop exercising or start eating whatever you want, because your body is a gift and we should use common sense in taking decent care of it, but do not judge or condemn your fellow neighbor for being overweight and lazy.  Instead, love them as your brother and sister in Christ and together grow in your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is truly Biblical!
    Just a good discussion we had that I wanted to share.  If you have any feed back or any Scriptural passages you would question about possibly directly speaking about this topic, please feel free to email me.  Otherwise, blessings on your weekend and I will post my sermon on Monday.  In Christ always!

Class review

     Season's greetings in the name of our King to be born, Christ Jesus the Lord.  Time is definitely not on my side for the next week or two.  This quarter is either going to kill me or break me of some bad habits of procrastination and poor time management.  I am already behind and it has only been a week.  But I regress and know everything will get done.
      I preach this Sunday and have some pretty cool ideas floating through my mind, so I will hopefully be posting a good sermon on here next week.  I also wanted to let you know about my classes this quarter.  Two required ones that some times feel like they are not as beneficial as others are my World Religion and Religious Bodies of America classes.  Now, I am not saying these topics are not necessary, but the classes are structured in a way that I was not expecting and does not seem like the most efficient way in my mind.  My other classes though, I am actually really enjoying.  My Biblical Theology class is actually quite fascinating. Other than the fact that I have to read for every class session, I like the structure of it.  We read a portion of some book and then come to class and discuss it.  We have had some awesome discussions so far.  We have read sections of the book titled, Jesus and Israel, One Covenant or Two?.  This book has some great insights into how Jesus is truly the center of both the New Testament and the Old Testament.  If you are even slightly interested, I recommend reading it.
      Then in my Pastoral Theology class we have a similar set up.  We doing the reading, write questions on note cards, and then he uses those questions in the class discussion.  We again have had some really awesome discussions on some very practical issues of the pastoral office.  The coolest thing about this class though in my mind is Fridays.  On Fridays, we set up class as if it were a Circuit meeting, or Winkle.  One student leads the discussion on a topic that has happened to him on vicarage or at field work church.  We then discuss it as if he were going through the situation right now and begin to see how we as fellow pastors can best help and learn from our brothers in the ministry.  I wish more classes were this practical and realistic to what happens in the real world.
      My Creative Homiletics class has also been really good.  We are focusing on how the use of stories and analogies can help us be better preachers.  This has sparked some of the cool ideas for my sermon this coming Sunday.
     Finally, my independent study class of Christ in Film is pretty amazing too.   Here we have 8 guys who get together and watch movies or parts of movies and then discuss how it relates to and can be used to teach a Christological idea.  For the first couple weeks we are focusing on "Jesus" movies where Jesus is an actual character in the movie.  However, after break we get into "Christ" movies where it is simply a Christ character or plot in a secular movie.  Some examples that the professor really likes are The Big Lebowski, Gran Torino, and western movies.  It is just a nice break from books and I love movies.
       I will try to keep putting some smaller posts up as time allows, but for now wanted to include you in the busyness of my class schedule.  Christ is Lord of all, even time, and we simply use the time we have in front of us to strive to serve Him.  In His most powerful name, Jesus, Amen.

"Break"ing news :)

      Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our King!  I had a great two week break.  I covered 8 states and 3651 miles in my travels, but it was totally worth it to see so many friends and family.  I drove through Iowa to stop at mom and dads and get all my hunting clothes.  Then I made it to Seward Friday night since Saturday morning was opening morning of rifle hunting.  I couldn't afford the out of state permit, so I just went and sat like I was still hunting.  It was fun and i still enjoyed being out there even if I couldn't kill anything.  Then after hunting in Seward for the weekend, I cam home and helped a friend move corn shuck bales.  The next part of the trip was a late addition, but was still quite the adventure.  My friend Bill, from Seward, bought a tractor in Ohio, and I agreed to ride along with him to pick it up.  We left Tuesday afternoon and did not get back until Thursday afternoon.  While we safely made it out to Ohio, got the tractor, and safely made it home again, the trip was almost a disaster several times.  On our way through Chicago we were talking and missed I80 and ended up in I94.  So we went north through Michigan, through a horrible blizzard, but eventually made it back to Indiana and out of the snow.  When we got to Ohio, right after we got the tractor picked up, our vehicle broke down and we spent over 3 hours and the most redneck efforts possible to get ourselves fixed and going again.  Then on the way home we got lost in Chicago again and went another 40 miles out of our way.  Finally we got home though.  The funny part is I say we got a tractor, but this thing is a John Deere 650, so a tiny garden and utility tractor.  It was a fun trip and good time spent with a friend though.
      Then about a half hour after I got home from the Ohio trip, I unpacked, repacked, and took off again and headed north to South Dakota.  I made it to Brookings Thursday evening.  Friday I bow hunted.  I sat int he stand Friday morning and had a tiny little buck circling me, and then a nice doe and a fawn also circling me.  The doe at one point was broadside only ten yards in front of me and would have been an easy shot, but I did not want to shoot a doe the first time out.  However, then I never really saw any other thing else close enough to shoot so I probably should have just taken the doe.  But again, I just love being in the stand, watching deer, and enjoying being in nature.  I had a great weekend in Brookings seeing everyone from vicarage again.  It was hard to be there again because I wanted to stay, but Monday morning I headed down to Omaha to my sister and brother-in-laws.  I spent a couple days there for my birthday and had a nice relaxing 26th birthday.  Mom and Dad came out to Omaha Tuesday night for my birthday, mom's birthday, and a mini Thanksgiving with JoAnna and Steven since they were not able to make it to Decatur.  Then Wednesday Mom, Dad, and I drove to Decatur.  We spent the rest of the week there with Nate, Kari, the boys, and Tim.  It was a nice couple days of family time and some awesome football.
     Now I am back in St. Louis and have started my winter quarter.  I have 16 credits on top of work, intramural basketball, and Financial Peace University.  So I will be busy, but I am still managing to have some fun too.  I will try to post some more psalm devotions or possibly even some advent devotions up here the next day or two.  I just wanted to let you know I am still alive since I haven't posted in a month.  I did get all A's last quarter so I was happy with that and made up for the busyness of finals weeks.  Other than that, happy Advent as we prepare for the coming of our King.  In Jesus name, Amen.