Today’s Scripture

Psalm 4           Jeremiah 26:81-5        Philippians 3:17-4:1               Luke 13:31-35

 

            For a moment, (but not the entire sermon time), sit back and let your mind wander to this year’s vacation.  Now, while you think of that place you go, or are going, what things will you want when you are there?  As you go about your routines over these next months, how many times do you end up purchasing something that you are going to use only on that vacation or at your retreat place?  How about one of your hobbies or favorite vices?  Do they take precedence over more important matters as you get lost in these favored activities?  Where is your heart at these times?  Are you really here or there?

 

            That is what is going on in today’s Scripture readings and in particular as Paul writes to us in his letter to the Philippians.  Keep in mind he recognizes the congregation at Philippi as one that is most faithful and supportive to him in his ministries in other locations.  This congregation appears to be held very warmly by Paul and he recognizes and praises them in their faithfulness.  Yet in this letter he calls their attention to two different belief systems.  One is of works, the other of faith.

 

            Here are a couple of questions and you know the answers:

• Will always obeying the speed limit get you into heaven?
• By always paying your bills on time get you into heaven?
• Will being either a Sox or Cubs fan, or Bears or Packers fan get you into heaven?
• Will attending this organization or school or another get you into heaven?

 

We know the answers to those questions are all, “No.”  We also know that none of the above will help someone in any way to get into heaven.  What we do know is that those who know they have heaven by faith in Jesus, the Son of God, they will do those things on earth that are pleasing to the Lord and strive to not do things that are against God’s commands.  In the first verse Paul calls on believers to continue to follow the examples of those who have led them in the one true faith and not stray from this.

 

            The reason is because many in this world live as enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ.  We see that this very week when a lot of hype is given to the effort to convince the world that Jesus died and did not rise from the grave and ascend into heaven.  We see this throughout our world as God’s gift and commands in marriage is being thrown out of the equation in our society and laws.  We see this in our own community as gambling, a blatant form of coveting something that is not rightfully yours and trying to gain it by trickery is big business at the track, at the retail counter, the luring ads to bring you to a riverboat nearby and to build convenient casinos in your back yard.  We see it in our entertainment and popular news reporting of lives that are against God’s will and making these life-styles appear glamorous and acceptable.  We live with colleagues and neighbors and immediate family members who ridicule those who live lives according to God’s commands.  It is not popular to be a faithful spouse, a faithful single person, a person who does not join in raucous revelry and drunkenness and other vices. 

 

            Folks, we live as did the Philippians, in a world full of enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ.  These enemies are people who ridicule those being saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone.   These are people who will not let you use the name “Jesus” in a statement of faith but encourage you to use his name cursing and swearing.

 

            We love those people as they are our co-workers, they are our neighbors, they are our classmates, they are our family members, they are people created by God for the purpose to be his temple in this world.  We deplore the actions that Satan has convinced people everywhere in this world to live and have faith in lives outside of God’s commands.  We deplore the actions that Satan has convinced many in this world to rise up against the truth of the Gospel of God’s love to all people in his son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We deplore the actions that Satan has convinced many in this world to criticize and debunk any true believer’s witness of saving faith as opposed to allowing the free proclamation of either no religion or of the false religions of this world. 

 

            Paul knows the life of one persecuting the true faith as he once lived that life.  Paul is telling the Philippians then and all of us today that the sinful world we live in is not our true home anymore.  We are aliens here.  We are foreigners here.  We certainly are persecuted and feel uncomfortable here.  That is why we long to be in heaven, just as that vacation home. 

 

            Jeremiah encountered that as he proclaimed God’s word to the people of his time.  The temple rulers did not like that threat on their “turf.”  Jesus chastised the Pharisees of his time for the same, attacking the true prophets, and now the very Son of God.  Jesus also makes a great and comforting promise, “I must keep on going…”  And Jesus did and does still today.  His word continues to be preached (as he promised it will) and will until he comes again on the last day.

 

            Through Paul, God tells us the truth about those enemies of the cross as:

• Their destiny is destruction, i.e. hell
• Their God is their stomach, as they pursue the immediate satisfactions of the flesh and the impulsive desires that tempts from within
• Their glory is their shame as the more decadent sinful lives become, the bolder they are bringing them out into the open and proclaiming them as beautiful and acceptable in the world.

 

            The worldly way of life is living for the immediate gratifications of our bodies.  We make money, recreation, lust, hobbies, sports, passions, entertainment, the activities that consume us and our family members are our gods.  And where do they lead us?

 

            In Wednesday’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells us that where our treasures are, our hearts are there also.  He tells us to store up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy.  Paul, today, tells us who we are as we eagerly await the Savior from heaven.  In case you feel uncomfortable and out of place when the sinful world is converging all around you, Paul reminds Christians that our citizenship is not in this world, it is in heaven.

 

            Think back on that vacation spot again.  How you long to be there almost any time of the year.  Think of heaven in comparison with this sinful world.  How you long to be there also.  Think of how you feel when you are in a different culture, a different way of life, how you long to get back home again, where you are a citizen.  Think about how you long to be a citizen where all is according to God’s love and nothing else. 

 

            God made man in his image.  That is how God intends you and each and every human being to be, in his image.  God made man to dwell in his paradise, giving him the tree of life.  God intends you and each and every human being to live in his paradise, the tree of life restored to you.  God dos not intend for his people to live in a sinful land, but in his promised land, to be citizens in his eternal kingdom.  You received that citizenship in baptism.  You are like Abram, wandering Arameans in this world that is foreign to God’s love and will for his people.  You await deliverance as permanent citizens in his kingdom, heaven.

 

            Paul concludes this passage with the great promise of the Gospel and what our faith hopes for.  We eagerly await Jesus’ return at the last day, who by his almighty power will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body.  Jesus reminds us just before his ascent into heaven that all authority on earth and in heaven has been given him.  Jesus is powerful beyond what we know and understand in natural science as God created all things.  Jesus can and does do miracles as we saw him do in his earthly life.  The greatest miracle is that over death and the grave.  He demonstrated that in raising others back to life, and as he arose from the grave on Easter and later ascended bodily into heaven.  In that victory over death and the grave is knowing that our eternal home is with him in heaven.  And isn’t that how each of our creeds, statements of true faith, conclude?  I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life to come. 

 

            We can stand firm in this one true faith as Luther concludes his explanations of the articles of the creed, “This is most certainly true.”                   Amen.