Reformation: Faith Alone

Pastor Scott Jonas

10/28/17

Faith Alone

                We are diving into the essential truths of the reformation.  Almost 500 years ago to the day Martin Luther posted his 95 theses.  They were points for debate over the doctrines of the church.  It led to a debate of sorts.  Scholars, pastors, monks, silver smiths, mothers and nuns reexamined the faith.  It forced them to go back to the beginning and ask a basic question.  The way you answer this question will determine what kind of Christian you will be or if you will be one at all.  The fundamental question is, What is Faith?

                This should be easy, right? This should be simple.  But the fundamental questions are often difficult to answer because they are so foundational.  We answered that question long ago.  I really haven’t thought about it in years.  Say I asked you What is Love?  Seems pretty basic but also very essential.  I bet I would get a lot of different answers in this room.  It’s putting someone else above yourself.  It’s when you can’t imagine being with anyone else.  You just know it when you see it.  What is Love? Baby don’t hurt me, baby don’t hurt me no more.  Those different definitions of love lead to very different life outcomes.  if you can’t answer what love is then how can you know when you love someone or someone loves you or have a loving relationship.  Knowing the definition of love is necessary to one who wants to live a life full of it.

                So, What is faith?  The reformers taught that it is through faith alone we are saved.  So this is important.  I want to do an exercise that will get our thoughts on the table then we can search through them, organize them and really get to an answer. Think of one word that you think of when I say Faith.  On the count of three I want you to say it.  Ok.  1, 2, 3. 

                I’m really going to try to simplify our understanding of Faith. 

                Faith is a relationship with God our Father through Jesus Christ.  It is a gift to you.  Faith is confessing our set of beliefs about God that are written out in our creeds based on scripture.  They describe the process of faith.  Faith is trusting in Jesus.  That is living out your faith.  Relationship with God through Jesus. Set of beliefs. Trusting Jesus.

                These three aspects of faith are all needed otherwise our picture is incomplete.  The picture we will see has three points of view:  God view, our view and the Bible’s view.

Let’s look at God’s point of view.  Faith is a relationship with God that he initiates and sustains.  Romans uses  Abraham as an example of Faith.  Hebrews lists him among the faithful as well.  What is this faith that Abraham possessed?  He was a pagan, meaning he followed the false gods of his ancestors.  He had faith in figures of wood and stone.  He believed that by worshipping these pagan gods that he would have many children, lots of fertile land and a full life.  He had faith in a non-entity.  His gods didn’t exist.  All of his faith was worthless.  But then the real God showed up.

Abraham didn’t call out to the heavenly father.  He wasn’t searching for him.  He didn’t do anything that created contact with his creator.  Abraham didn’t deserve contact.  He was no better or worse than other men.  He had his weaknesses just like you and I.  Then one day out of the blue.  God talked to Abraham.  Imagine praying to these wood bobbleheads everyday and then all of a sudden there is a voice.  You think, “I was right.”  But you weren’t right.  You were worshipping the wrong God and now you are talking to the true one.

God doesn’t berate him for his idolatry.  He doesn’t  try to convince him that he is the Lord.  It is simply too obvious.  He knows that Abraham knows that he is meeting his Maker.  The Lord says “Leave your house and go to a new land.  And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  Guess what Abraham did?  He moved.

This is an example of Faith as a relationship.  God introduced himself.  Abraham was no catch.  He just stood there dumbfounded.  God defined the relationship.  Later he would say, “I am your God and you are my people.”  That’s the relationship.  Notice that God doesn’t even ask Abraham to be in a relationship with him.  He just tells him, “This is the way it is.”  It was the same way with Moses.  God said, “I’m your God and I’m sending you to Pharoah as my spokesman.”  There is no asking do you want to be my people.  He just makes you his people.  And because you belong to him, God promised all of these good things.

That is the gift of Faith.  God initiates a relationship with you and he makes it happen.  For many of us that happened in baptism.  God looked down at us and said “I am your God and you will be my people.”  And he gave us forgiveness, eternal life and all of the good things from above.  We just stood there looking dumbfounded.  God defined the relationship and he made us a promise to always be with us.  Faith alone means that it is only through a relationship with God through Jesus that we can be saved.

Faith is also a Christians’ doctrinal beliefs. This is a description about  Faith.  So we say the Nicene creed today.  We call that confessing the faith.  The creed describes the Gospel.  Father, son and Holy Spirit working together for our salvation.  Father as creator, Son as savior, Spirit as the giver of life in the church.  We also have our Lutheran confessions.  They describe Faith through the ten commandments, the Lord’s prayer, the sacraments, the creed, confession and others.

They help us to understand the relationship that we have with God.  God defined it in the Bible and the church has summarized it in the creeds and confessions.  We call this doctrine.  But it is important to understand that doctrine does not save us.  A description of our relationship doesn’t have the power to save us.  It is only the gift of faith, the actual relationship that saves us.  That alone.

It’s like the difference between a description of your marriage and the marriage itself.  When you write an anniversary letter to your spouse, the words describe your marriage.  They summarize it.  But that description is not your relationship itself.  You can’t love, cherish and obey that description.  You love cherish and obey an actual person, your spouse.  Your relationship is of infinite more importance than it’s description.  The relationship is a real.  Faith is real.  A description is words on paper.  Important words but not as important as the savior behind the words.

Luther and the reformers believed this.  Faith saves you, not doctrine.  Nowhere in the Bible does it say doctrine saves.  God saves.  Baptism saves.  Instead it says teach sound doctrine, hold to good doctrine, avoid false doctrine, but only a relationship with Christ saves.

                Faith is a relationship that God establishes.  It is a description of that relationship and there is a third aspect.  From our point of view Faith is trusting…. Jesus .  That is living out your relationship.  Today in our Gospel we have the story of the bleeding woman.  We don’t have her name otherwise I would say it.  But even those who knew her probably called her that, the bleeding woman.  It made her unclean.  She couldn’t worship in the temple.  It made friendships and contact with people difficult.  It would be easy for her to be defined by it.  But she believed in God and when she saw Jesus she trusted that he could heal her.  She stalked him through the crowd and touched his robe.  Power went out from him and she bled no more.  She was healed and whole.  Jesus turned to her “Your faith has made you well.”

                Your faith has made you well.  What is Jesus referring to?  Is it her relationship to the Father through Jesus that made her well?  Is it her doctrine that made her well?  Or is it her trusting in Jesus that made her well?

                Did her relationship with God make her well?  Yes.  Christ has the power to heal and a relationship gives you access to him.  Sometimes a relationship with him means he heals you.  Sometimes not.  But she had access via her relationship.  Via faith.  Did her doctrine make her well?  In a sense.  She believed that God has the power to heal and that understanding promted her to approach Jesus as Lord.  Did her trusting in Jesus make her well?  Yes.  Her doctrine gave her a knowledge.  Her relationship gave her access and her trust was the last step in seeking healing.  She had to trust that the answer might be no as well.

                Faith Alone is our relationship to God.  That relationship is real and true.

truer than anything you feel

truer than anything you experience

truer than any circumstance you will ever face

truer than anything in the world

                The Lord knows you, Loves you and calls you his own.  That is Faith.

Reformation: Scripture Alone

Pastor Scott Jonas

10/22/17

Scripture Alone

I want you to be a part of a thought experiment.  This may seem fanciful but it actually was a real experiment commissioned by the Office of Nuclear Waste in the 1980s.  Here is the situation.  Nuclear waste is being stored hundreds of meters below the Nevada desert.  That location will be radioactive and dangerous for ten thousand years.  How do you warn someone ten thousand years from now that this land is deadly?

Any ideas?  A warning sign, perhaps?  What language?  English may be a dead language by then.  All of the world’s languages may be indistinguishable by then.  Future generations may look the words “Warning Nuclear Waste” the way we look at cave drawings.  You could try to protect the site by setting booby traps like in Indiana Jones.  Moats and darts and falling boulders will dissuade those who are casually interested in what’s behind the door. But that also entices treasure hunters.  The Egyptians booby trapped their tombs and modern man totally disregarded the hieroglyphics outside the entrance.  What can you do to warn people over a hundred generations from now of a vital truth?

A linguist Thomas Sebeok came up with a solution.  It is low tech, in fact, a primitive society could pull it off.  You don’t need electricity or computers.  You only need the most basic of human resources.  You need people.  You need community.  You need families.   

The key is to ensure that the words of warning are passed down from parent to child forever.  The best way to do that is to create a text that describes the reality of the situation.  That text must be treated as holy.  No one should ever add to the text or take away from the text.  There should be a position made in which the individual studies the text and ensures its authenticity.  But this requires more than individuals.  It requires a whole community whose life is centered around the text.  Families live as near as possible to the nuclear site.  The family unit regularly reads the text together so that father can pass down the dangerous reality to his kids.  Songs can be created so that adults and kids remember the words of the text.  The text should be translated into the families’ mother tongue and every member should have a copy.  But it also must be memorized because catastrophies occur.  Floods, Fires and wars destroy paper, computer and even stone.  But a memorized text can always be passed on.   Families should get together once a week on a day set aside for speaking and embracing the text.  If a community was set up like this, the words of warning could last until the end of the earth.   Do you think that could really be possible?

We are that community.  God entrusted us with a message that goes back to the beginning of time.  It has survived a world-wide flood, the rise and fall of Rome, the black plague, Two world wars and Pokemon Go.   A warning has been passed down to you and through confirmation you have parts memorized.  But you certainly can pass on this message.  Beware of sin, death, and the devil.  They are located everywhere.  God breathed his words into the first two people.  But they ignored those words.  They kept breathing but eventually they couldn’t any longer.  Their sin has led to the death of every known person.  Even before people died, sin had already taken a devastating toll.  They were separated from their creator.  They could not love others the way they wanted.  Sin caused them to be self centered and disconnected from all of the good things from above.

So God sent prophets to warn people.  He spoke his message into their hearts and the prophets wrote down the words.  Some listened, most did not.  God used the family of the first prophet Abraham to remember the bad news, that through sin all people die.  But he also added new words.  Through the grace of God, all things can be made new.  God’s words can actually create life.  Abraham passed these words down to Isaac.  Isaac passed it down to his son, Jacob.  Jacob gave the words to his twelve sons.  They were passed down for hundreds of years.  Then a special day was set aside to remember the words.  The text was written down by Moses.  Songs were created.  Mother’s whispered the words to their kids at night.  It continued for thousands of years until something even more amazing happen.  The words of God came to life.  Jesus was the Word and the word was God.

Jesus was a living breathing word from the Father.  Everything he said was a message from above.  Most did not listen, some did.  The Romans tried to erase the word on good Friday.  They shoved a spear in his lungs to stop his breathing, stop his words.  They thought this would silence the message forever.   But the word was quiet for only three days.  First an angel said, “He is not here, He is Risen!”  And then the word spoke for himself, saying  “Hello.  All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

His friends wrote down those words.  They met together in homes to repeat and celebrate those words.  They received more words from above and shared those as well, writing the words down and sending them as letters.  More and more people heard the story and passed them down to their kids.  The message lasted for centuries.

Nations rose and fell.  Languages came and went.  The words of Jesus were translated from the original greek to German by a monk named Martin.  He discovered that the church had added to God’s words which confused the original message.  Martin read God’s words and was awed by the responsibility that came with them.

 Martin Luther said, “I began to understand that “the justice of God” meant that justice by which the just man lives through God’s gift, namely faith. This is what it means: the justice of God is revealed by the gospel, a passive justice with which the merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written: ‘He who through faith is just shall live.’ Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.”

Luther took the holy text and reproduced it so every family can center their lives around it.  He made a little book called the catechism that outlined the dangers of sin, death and the devil.  But more than that it contained the Gospel.  Jesus has overcome all of the worst things of the world through the cross and the resurrection.

That was 500 years ago.  German mothers prayed this truth around the dinner table.   Fathers brought their babies to be baptized into the words of Jesus.  Pastors and theologians made sure that nothing was added to or taken away from the bible again.  The message must stay pure because the message saves lives.

In the mid 1800s, Lutherans came to America.  The church in Germany was threatening to change the message.  So churches were formed in Missouri and beyond so that they could do their part.  By now the message was on every continent and in every country.  Families continued to pass it on.  75 years ago next year, Glendale Lutheran was established.  The message has been faithfully given to us today.

The question is What are you going to do with this message?  You are here which is a good sign, because in this church during this hour you know that the Gospel message is going to be proclaimed.  We sing it in our hymns.  We repeat it in our confession/absolution.  We pass it on to our kids in the children’s message.  We center the sermon on God’s grace.  We tell the story in the creeds and we show the story in the Lord’s supper.  Our opening hymn said it best,” Lo, the apostles holy train, Join the sacred name to hallow.  Prophets swell the glad refrain and white robbed martyrs follow, and from the morn to set of sun through the church the song goes on.”

It is sacred scripture where we get this message.  It is only through scripture in which we really know the message.  You can commune with nature on a mountain top but the vital message of Christ overcoming Sin will not be evident on that mountaintop.  It is only evident in the pages of your Bible.

2 Timothy 3:16 says  “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God[b] may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Scripture alone is one of the key themes of the reformation.  It’s summarized in our Lutheran writings.  “The Holy scriptures alone remain the judge, rule and norm.  According to them- as the only touchstone- all teachings shall and must be discerned and judges to see whether they are good or evil, right or wrong.”

We have something more than a message.  Danger Nuclear Fallout is a message.  But it is only words.  Important words, but still mere words.  The Bible are words breathed out by God.  The Holy Spirit is in with and under the words of scripture.  You can’t separate them.  When you open your Bible the Holy Spirit is talking to you in here.  A nulclear sign can’t do that.  God can change you from the inside through these words.  The words of God are a promise spoken from the Father to you and the holy Spirit empowers you to receive them.

Pass them on to your household.  Pass them on to your fellow Glendale family.  Pass them on to your neighbors.  They are the most important words they will ever hear and they have been passed on since the beginning of time.

Philippians 4: Rejoice Always

Pastor Scott

10/12/17

Rejoice Always

                Philippians 4:13 is one of the most popular and well known verses in the Bible.  It reads, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  You can purchase this verse on coffee mugs, wall hangings, ties and even poker chips.  People even get Philippians 4:13 tattoos.   Unfortunately it is also one of the most misinterpreted Bible verses.  Let me explain how people often use this passage.

Want to dunk a basketball but you’re only 5’5″ tall? No worries. You can do all things through Christ.   Want to get that new promotion with a corner office? You can do all things with Christ.  Want to get ripped in the gym? You can do all things with Christ.  Want that boy to notice you or finally accept your invitation to go out? You can do all things with Christ.  Want your company to be wildly successful? You can do all things with Christ.  People emphasize the “I” in “I can do all things.”  You set your eyes on a goal and Christ makes it happen.

This is not what Paul means.  As we’ve learned from the rest of Philippians, Paul puts the emphases off of us and onto Christ.  More to the point, the “All things” he refers to are not every goal we can imagine.  Remember, Paul had personal goals.  He dreamed of being the ultimate Pharisee with the most impressive religious resume.  He strived to be the most righteous one under the law.  Did God strengthen Paul to achieve this goal.  No, because God didn’t care about Paul’s shallow and misguided goal.  And God is not going to help you achieve your shallow and misguided goals.

That may hurt your feelings.  God does not exist for the purpose of strengthening you so you can achieve your goals.  Jesus will not divert from his plan so you can feel puffed up.  Not only is this idea bad theologically but it doesn’t even make sense.  Not everything we want is God’s will.  Paul wanted the thorn in his flesh removed but it wasn’t God’s will.  Martin Luther’s father wanted Martin to be a Lawyer but it wasn’t part of the Lord’s plan.  We also pray for contradictory things.  Cardinal fans pray to win the World series so do Cubs fans.  How can Christ strengthen both the Cardinals and the Cubs to win the World series?  It’s logically impossible.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” must mean something different. 

The “All things” are the things he has been talking about in Philippians.  A clearer translation is “I can do all these things through Christ who strengthens me.”  What are these things?  What can Paul do thanks to the power that comes from above?  Let’s review.   Philippians 1:18  Paul says “Whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I REJOICE.”  Philippians 2:17  “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and REJOICE with you all.  Likewise you should be glad and REJOICE with me.  Philippians 3:1 “Finally brothers REJOICE in the Lord.  To write the same THINGS to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.”    Philippians 4:4 “REJOICE in the Lord always; again I say REJOICE.”  So what is the thing that you can do through Christ?  Not dunk a Basketball.  Not find a parking space.  Not reach your goals.  You can Rejoice through Christ who strengthens you.

Martin Luther said that next to the Word, the greatest gift from God was music.  I can’t explain joy better than the hymn “Joyful, Joyful We adore thee.”  I can’t.  Beethoven’s music paints a wonderful picture of the Joy that comes through Christ.   Sometimes we sing a song and can’t really reflect on the words.  I want to read this poetry that beautifully explains “I can rejoice through Christ who strengthens me.”

Hymn 803

Joyful Joyful we adore thee, God of Glory God of Love!

Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, praising thee their sun above

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, drive the gloom of doubt away.

Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day

All thy works with joy surround thee, earth and heaven reflect thy rays

Stars and Angels sing around thee, center of unbroken praise

Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowry meadow, flashing sea

Chanting bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing ever blest

Well spring of the joy of living, Ocean depth of happy rest

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Fountain head of Love divine

Joyful we thy heaven inherit!  Joyful, we by grace are thine.

You can feel the joy from Christ in that song.  Notice the God is the prime mover in Joyful, Joyful.  Melt the clouds of Sin and sadness.  Who does that?  The Lord of Love.  He is also the Giver of immortal gladness.  He fills the light of day.  Earth and heaven reflect thy rays.  God is the source of joy just as the sun is the source of day light.   

The music of course comes from Ode to Joy from Beethoven but the words come from Henry Van Dyke in 1907.  Someone asked the author of Joyful, Joyful where he got his inspiration from and Henry Van Dyke said, “'I'm not an optimist,' says Dr. van Dyke, 'there's too much evil in the world and in me. Nor am I a pessimist; there is too much good in the world and in God. So I am just a meliorist, believing that Christ wills to make the world better, and trying to do my bit to help and wishing that it were more.'"

“I can do all these things through Christ who Strengthens me.”  God has gifted you with Joy and that gift does not go away according to your situation.  Paul says , “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can rejoice through Christ who strengthens me.

Rejoice in the Lord Always, Again I say rejoice.  We can be in a constant state of joy because it does not depend on us.  He is not saying, “Always have a smile on your face.  Turn that frown upside down.  Never feel sadness again.”  God is saying that your identity is in the Lord.  That identity does not change.  Your mood changes.  Your bank account changes.  Your health changes but your identity in Christ is stable.  That relationship is a source of joy.  God will never turn off the tap.  The fount of every blessing continues forever.

Let the joy of the Lord wash over you.  Let God’s truth wash over you.  Bathe in the excellence of the Almighty.  Let the lovely things of God remind you of your joy.  Let the pure things from above point you to the source of all well being.  Doesn’t that sound better than just focusing on your puny goals?

I googled Phil. 4:13, wondering if I could find a celebrity misinterpreting the verse.  You know someone saying that “I can do all things”  brought them to stardom in hollywood or financial success.  I’m sure those quotes are out there.  Instead I found Phil 4:13 properly quoted by a basketball player, Steph Curry.  Full disclosure: the warriors are my favorite team since childhood.

A 2006 article quotes Curry as choosing Phil. 4:13 as his life verse.  Curry grew up with devout parents who started everyday with a Bible devotion.  Steph and his wife travel to Africa regularly to hand out hundreds of nets to save people from malaria.  His has spoken up about his faith.  His former coach says that Steph is the type of person a Chrisi8tan man wants his son to be.  Regardless of his health or how he plays on a given night, Steph is known for having a consistent, even-keeled temperament rooted in one of his favorite Bible verses, Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (NKJV).

Three years ago the Warriors won the NBA championship.  Phil. 4:13 seemed to agree with him.  The city of Oakland threw the team a parade.  He was the darling of the sport. He set the goal of winning a championship and Jesus made it happen.   But the next year the Warriors lost the NBA championship in the most heart breaking of fashions.  They were up 3 games to one.  All they had to do was win one of the next three games.  They lost three in a row.  Many people threw Phil. 4:13 back in his face.  You can do all things.  How could this happen?  God has abandoned you.

But Curry never bought into the misinterpretation of this verse.  Losing did not steal his joy.  He said “I love to play the game, and I love when good things happen,” he said. “But when I get home, it’s about my family and faith without letting winning or losing define my character.

We have reason to rejoice even on our worst days.  And Christ empowers us to do it.

“The time with my wife is huge so we can continue to grow and not be complacent with where we are in our walk with Christ. Obviously, we can all be better at that.”

                   

Philippians 3: Rejoice in the Lord

Pastor Scott Jonas

10/8/17

Phil. 3

Rejoice in the Lord

                Last Sunday night, an animal fired hundreds of rounds at innocent people in Las Vegas.  We use the term animal for a person who does something inhuman.  How can a human being plan and execute the ripping apart of other human beings?  We understand when a shark mindlessly attacks surfers.  We know it is a part of the shark’s nature to kill and eat.  We get it when a vulture picks at a dead carcass.  That is just what a vulture is.  We aren’t confused when a rabid dog launches himself at prey.  That is what rabid dogs do.  It is easier to think of the Las Vegas shooter as an animal than a human being.

                Whatever we call him, we focus our prayers and our sympathy for the victims.  There is a path of destruction.  The joy of the concert turned to unspeakable sorrow.  Families were confident they would see their loved one again.  But after they heard the news their confidence plummeted.  When they  didn’t answer their cell phone it dropped even more.  When the officer showed up at their door their joy was nowhere to be found.  There was only pain inflicted by the lowest of low.  Our hearts go out to the grieving.  We could feel it in my chest, seeing video of the crime scene, reading news reports, hearing testimonies of the victims.

                Just talking about it seems to drain the happiness out of the room.  One minute we are singing praise and the next minute the world tries to steal it away.  We’ve been talking about Joy the last three weeks.  It is the overwhelming theme of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  God has had mercy on Paul.  This produced joy.  Paul shared his story and his joy with the church.  The church believed and the joy of Christ spread.  Paul says in 3:1 “Finally brothers, rejoice in the Lord.  I want your joy to be safe and protected.  I want no one to steal it from you.”

                Joy from God is a precious gift.  Because it comes from the Lord, the devil will try to separate you from it.  He will try to reach into your heart, grab it and run.  How the devil loves to destroy joy?  Joy is one of the greatest advertisements for a good and loving God.  We must guard it and place it somewhere safe. 

Then Paul gives a warning, “Look out for dogs, look out for evil doers, look out for mutilators of the flesh.”  Sound familiar?  Look out for people who resemble vicious animals more than humans.  Look out for people who have rejected the good things of God and pursue evil.  Watch out for those who mutilate or rip apart the flesh.  The warning was appropriate then and unfortunately it’s appropriate this week.  Look out for animals.

These “dogs” want to steal the Philippians joy and Paul can’t stand for that so he uses the strongest language possible.  Forget your image of a dog.  How many of you have dogs? We think of dogs as loving and loyal and happy.  That was not the case in the ancient world.  Families did not have dogs.  Dogs were wild.  They were more like we think of wolves.  They were pariahs who roamed the streets in packs, hunting amidst the garbage dumps and snapping and snarling at all whom they meet.  If they can’t a defenseless victim then they fed on garbage.  In the Bible Dogs stand for that which nothing can be lower.   Proverbs says, “Just as a fool returns to his own folly so a dog returns to his own vomit.”

When Paul warns of “Dogs” among them he is choosing his words wisely.  There was a group called the circumcisers.  The demanded that men be circumcised in order to be saved.  They claimed to believe in Jesus but they added that you had to mutilate yourself to complete the deal.  Paul sees this for what it is, a gross attempt to steal Christian Joy.  Imagine hearing about Jesus and believing that his goodness and love saves you.  That joy fills your life.  You share it with your family.  You celebrate it when you get up and when you go to bed.  You proclaim it in worship.  You sustain it in the Lord’s supper.  But then someone at church tells you that you aren’t really a Christian.  Real Christians cut themselves as a sign.  No sign; no salvation.  A man would wonder if his joy was based on a lie.  A woman would wonder if she was ever able to be confident in her salvation because she couldn’t be circumcised.  The devil runs away with joy under both arms.

Paul says there are only two places to put your joy:  in earthly things or in heavenly things.  One is completely safe and one is not.  There is nothing wrong with putting your joy in earthly things but know that earthly things change.  Earthly things die.  We see this in big ways and little ways.  A little way is when something funny happens to you.  Just a little moment that made you laugh.  In that moment you were joyful.  Life was good.  You were connected in a good way to the world and your part in it.  Then you try to share this funny moment with someone else.  And they don’t get it.  They don’t think it’s funny.  You say, “I guess you had to be there.”  An joyful earthly moment dies away. 

The big ways are obvious.  We find joy in family, friends, our neighborhood, music,  concerts and all the rest.    It is good to find joy in good things.  But as the Cardinals showed this year.  The things of this world are at best a mixed bag.  Earthly things give joy one minute and disappoint the next.  At worst, earthly things can be taken away from us in a horrible instant.  In Las Vegas, Family died, friends stolen away, a city known for fun devastated.  The music stopped and maybe forever tainted.  Paul says you can put your joy in good things and it will last for a time but it will not last forever.   It just may end up in the street.

The only safe place to keep your joy is in the Lord.  Your joy comes from the Lord and is given to Him.  He gave it to you at your baptism and you handed it back to him for safe keeping.  The Lord is the only person you can have complete confidence in.  The better you know him, the more you trust him.  He keeps every promise.   He promised to be resurrected from the dead and he did.  If he can keep that promise, surely he can keep you joy.  His resurrection guarantees that your life is important.  It guarantees the life to come.  Because he lives we shall live.  In life and in death we can be confident that the Lord is always with us.  Death can’t stop him from staying close to you.  The resurrection of Christ is the guarantee that this life is worth living no matter how demeaning the world gets.  Our bodies are sacred to the Lord even when the world tries to rip us apart.  When we suffer we share in Christ’s suffering.

He promises that the “dogs” of this world will not escape judgment.  We can rest assured that he understands the pain of Las Vegas better than any of us can.  He knows exactly what the shooter deserves.  So much so, Jesus suffered on the cross for that crime specifically.  Everything that the hundreds of victims suffered he felt on Good Friday.  I imagine that the physical pain meant nothing.  The spiritual agony of feeling the world’s viciousness was worse.  The devil ripped him to pieces even though he was innocent.  He knew what he was getting into.  It was worth it because he knew that on the otherside was joy.

The devil can take almost any earthly thing from you.  Look what he did to Job.  He took Job’s family, friends, wealth, and health.  The one thing that the devil could not touch was his faith.  That was between him and the Lord.  The Devil can attack your faith but he can’t steal it. 

Or look at the Gospel parable of the Tenants.  A man plants a vineyard, builds a fence, digs a winepress and a guard tower.  That is a lot of energy, money and time spent creating something.  A vineyard which could bring joy to many: those who work it, those who drink of it and those who own it.  Tenants come in.  They did not spend that energy, money and time creating it.  They were animals.  They beat servants, killed them, and stoned them.  They had total disregard for human life.  Finally they killed the owner’s son saying “Come let us kill the son and take his inheritance.”  The tenants kill the son and that’s when things really start to go down.  The owner shows up and suffice it to say the tenants get what’s coming to them and it’s not the son’s inheritance.

The devil can not get your inheritance either.  That is beyond his reach.

Martin Luther said this about the devil.

“Why should you fear?  Why should you be afraid?  Do you not know that the prince of this world has been judged?  He is no Lord, no prince anymore.  You have a different stronger Lord, Jesus Christ, who has overcome and bound him.  Therefore let the prince and god of this world look sour, bare his teeth, make a great noise, threaten and act in a menacing way; he can do no more than a bad dog on a chain, which may bark, run here and there, and tear at the chain.  But it is tied and if you avoid it , it can not bite you.  So the devil acts towards every Christian.  Therefore everything depends on this that we do not feel secure but continue in the fear of God and in prayer; then the chained dog cannot harm us.”

Your joy is in the Lord and no one is stronger than the Lord.

                

Philippians 2: Rejoice Together

Pastor Scott Jonas

Phil. 2

10/1/17

Rejoice Together

                Jesus met a woman at the well in the noontime son.  This woman went at the hottest point in the day because of her scandalous reputation.  She had 6 men in her bed at one time or another.  Yet Jesus talked with her saying “Please get me a drink.”  She smiled and a conversation began.  As this woman engaged Jesus she felt this wonder and joy build up inside of her.  Somehow he knew her better than any man ever had.  He treated her with respect and maybe even delight.  For the first time in her life she could feel God working inside her.  After their conversation, she ran to her neighbors and said, “Make my joy complete and listen to my story.”

                Jesus sees a bunch of lepers.  They stayed at a distance maybe because they didn’t want to scare him away.  Jesus yelled to them.  They went to the priests and as they walked their skin was restored.  Their ears were their original shape.  They looked healthy and normal.  They ran to the priests and said, “Make my joy complete and listen to my story.”

Jesus was entering a town called Nain.  A funeral procession was exiting the gates as he was entering.  Men carried the body of a man on a bier.  Following the dead man was his mother.  Jesus put out his hand onto the bier and stopped the procession.  The pallbearers grief turned to shock.  Jesus went up to the crying mother, wiped her cheeks and said “No more weeping. Young Man, arise.”  The dead man sat up and the whole crowd was gripped with fear.  The woman and her son went home forehead to forehead, arms around each other.  When they saw someone they knew they said, “Make my joy complete and listen to my story.”

That is how the relationship between Paul and the Philippians began in the beginning.  Paul had this crazy story and a deep well of happiness bubbling up inside.  Jesus appeared as a bright light on the road to Damascus and this changed Paul forever.  Through that encounter he learned that Jesus was Lord and Savior.  He followed wherever Jesus led him.  That journey brought him to Philippi.  Some of the people there sat with him, listened to his story and believed.  This made Paul’s joy complete.

Phil. 2:1-2  Paul says, “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”  Do you see this process that Paul is laying out?  Jesus does something miraculous that changes a person on the inside.  That person feels compelled to share the experience with others.  The process isn’t complete until the other person believes the story and feels the same joy.  Miracle, Joy, share the miracle, joy.  That is what the woman at the well, the lepers, and the widow all experienced. 

So Paul has already completed that Joy loop with the Philippians.  He shared the good news of Jesus, they listened and believed.  Then they celebrated that good news through worship.  Now he has a new joy loop story.  He is a prisoner because of his faith in Jesus.  He is suffering through loss of freedom, loss of creature comforts, loss of physical connection to the churches he has started.  Yet Jesus is still working through him.  God’s word is working.  The Gospel is progressing.  Paul is compelled to share this with his friends.  He needs them to hear this new story, believe and celebrate.

Haven’t you experienced this process?  Something big has happened and you need not just to share but for someone to believe you.  My family once was in a cabin near Lake Pinecrest in California.  Our cabin was about 30 minutes from my mom’s cabin which was right on the lake.  Ann and the girls went back to our cabin early but I stayed until past midnight.  The way home was a two lane road bordered by huge pine trees.  All of a sudden, there was a bright light that filled the whole road.  My first thought was that it was a construction crew.   But the light disappeared and there was no light night crew.  I continued to the cabin and woke up Ann.  She was not pleased and didn’t really understand what I was saying.  I had this amazing experience but my joy was not complete.  Ann listened but didn’t believe and certainly did not share my joy at 1am.  The next afternoon there was a front page article in the Sonora Newspaper.  Comet lands near Lake Pinecrest.  My family believed me and completed my joy.

This is an absolutely necessary process of the Christian life.   Jesus has done something miraculous to us on the inside through baptism.  This gives us forgiveness of sins, eternal life and joy.  But our joy is not complete until we loop someone else in.  We need to tell the story of how Jesus saved us so that others may believe.  When they do then its celebration time.

This goes not just for our salvation but also anytime we see God working.  Paul’s prison experience wasn’t about his salvation.  That happened before he met the Philippians.  Paul’s prison experience was about seeing God work through your everyday life.  When you recognize God working through you, you must share that with the church.

I hope I have shared with you how God used Glendale in my life.  I’m so excited to be your pastor.  I prayed for a congregation where I could lead worship, preach, teach, baptize, wed, bury, counsel, and lead.  I asked God for a church that fit my personality.  I asked him for a school where I could play with kids and connect with parents and teachers.  I asked God for a place where my family could thrive.  God heard my prayers.  Do you know how amazing that is?  That is so much more amazing than seeing a comet.  The Creator of the universe heard my prayers and brought me to you.  When I share that with you and I have you make my joy complete when you believe me.  Then we can celebrate together.

This is what rejoicing together really means.  We see God working through his word and we celebrate.  Last week we had a baptism.  That made me want to share that with others.  Didn’t you?  I don’t know if you’ve met our new organist Jim Thielker yet but if you do be ready to rejoice.  Jim is beside himself with joy over joining our staff.  It isn’t just that it’s a good fit.  It isn’t just that he missed playing every week for a Lutheran church.  It’s because he recognizes that God heard his prayers those spoken and not spoken.  God is using Jim Thielker and he wants to share that story.

How has God been working in your life?  Recognizing it is just the first step in the process.  You need to share it with others, especially the church.  If you have a loved one who is dealing with drug or alcohol addiction and they meet a milestone that you’ve been praying for, make your joy complete and share it.  If you have a family member who has been dealing with depression and the doctors find the right medication, make your joy complete and share it.  If your adult child stepped back into a Christian church after a long absence, make your joy complete and share it.  If you had the opportunity to give money and God used it for his glory, make your joy complete and share it.  If you tried to do family devotions for the first time and you could feel God move through his word, make your joy complete and share it.

That is one of the great reasons to have these dinner for eights.  Sunday morning just isn’t enough time to really be connected.  You can’t feel connected to everyone in the church.  Even though you are connected through the Spirit.  But you can develop friendships though things like dinner for eight.  There we can be our real self and share.