{"id":10123,"date":"2024-07-15T05:55:29","date_gmt":"2024-07-15T12:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10123"},"modified":"2024-07-15T05:55:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-15T12:55:29","slug":"from-no-hope-to-a-living-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10123","title":{"rendered":"From \u201cno hope\u201d to \u201ca living hope\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ephesians 2:11-22<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Nineth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years ago, in the weeks after a baby was born, people would ask: \u201cHas the child been done?\u201d By which they meant: \u201cHas the baby been baptized?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That question, \u201cHas the baby been done?\u201d strikes us as old-fashioned, but it\u2019s right about the main thing. There are three basics to the main thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first of the basics is: What has God done? What God has done is summarized in the Apostles\u2019 Creed or more usefully in the Nicene Creed, which is the far more universal creed among Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the Nicene Creed say? The Creed says there was a problem, which is described in the Psalm for today, the Twenty-Third Psalm, particularly in verse 4: \u201cEven though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. . . .\u201d As you know, there\u2019s a footnote there that says that in Hebrew it doesn\u2019t only mean \u201cthe valley of the shadow of death.\u201d It means the valley of deep darkness. And that includes, of course, death, but it includes all the problems of this world: tragedies, horrors, depression, loneliness, emptiness, meaninglessness. Whatever the problem is included in Psalm 23:4. Even though I walk through the valley of shadows, I fear no evil because he is with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Great Shepherd chapter in the New Testament, it says three times: \u201cThe Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep\u201d (John 10:11, 15, 17). This is no different from what is said in the Nicene Creed or in John 1:14: \u201cAnd the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father.\u201d The God who made everything came to this particular planet and at a certain time, about 2,000 years ago, and this particular person died and rose again for you and me because there was a problem and he solved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is stated very specifically then in Romans 14:9: \u201cFor this reason Jesus Christ died and rose again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.\u201d That\u2019s number one, the basic point. You may say: \u201cThat\u2019s really a general idea of love.\u201d But no. Our confession is: This is not a general idea about love or God or goodness. Rather, this is the key event that changes everything, and if that is not our confession, then we\u2019re are just playing church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic to all is what we have confessed about what God has done. This is why we do what we do. In that confession, the Nicene Creed, it says: \u201cOne baptism for the forgiveness of sins.\u201d This is echoing Ephesians 4:5-6: \u201cOne Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Number two is: Is everybody saved? Do we have God figured out? We all know that there are many religions, everybody has a point of view, wanting a God who suits them, and there\u2019s evil. The problem of: \u201cIs everybody saved?\u201d is not only lurking, but overpowering among us, without thinking of why this can\u2019t be: It can\u2019t be because if everybody is saved, then there\u2019s no justice. It\u2019s as if at the end of history God brings down the curtain and in spite of forty million killed here and a hundred million killed there, he says: \u201cWasn\u2019t that interesting?!\u201d If everybody is saved, then there\u2019s no justice in the face of all the evil of this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the Bible say? On the one hand, Matthew 25:46 says some \u201cwill go to eternal punishment.\u201d And Matthew 7:13: \u201cThe gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many.\u201d On the other hand, Romans 11:32 says: \u201cFor God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.\u201d And Romans 5:18: \u201cOne man\u2019s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all.\u201d This problem is not to be solved by dueling Bible passages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it about? It\u2019s about God handling it his way. It doesn\u2019t mean that we can say, as many do: \u201cWell I know that really everybody is saved.\u201d Or: \u201cI know that really most are damned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, it means really<\/strong> leaving it up to God because it\u2019s his problem, and he has solved it his way. As it says in Colossians 1:20: \u201c. . . making peace by the blood of his cross,\u201d and in Ephesians 2:14: \u201cHe [Christ] is our peace.\u201d That\u2019s his way of solving it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why we make the sign of the cross on the forehead of the one being baptized because that is basic to what God has done and is doing his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in the third place, we\u2019re doing this as not as \u201ca thing to do,\u201d but our confession as Christians is: This is life insurance. You and I know that when we buy life insurance it is really death insurance. But no, what we are doing in a Baptism is life insurance. We\u2019re doing something that is not just at the beginning of a child\u2019s life. (Sometimes we baptize adults.) This is forever, and that\u2019s what it is about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real question for all of us, all the time is: What about forever? We have here that which is life insurance. God\u2019s magic and that\u2019s what makes the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have in the first three chapters of Ephesians a description of this: He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world but now in Baptism. And so, it says in Ephesians 1:13-14: You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. It is that stamp which remains, like being branded. You are sealed forever. That is based on what God has done in Jesus Christ when he came and died and rose again. This was not some dipsy-do in which he came down for thirty years and then went up. Rather, he is the one who remains both God and man forever. Being baptized in him means you are adopted. You are made a son or daughter forever. You are no longer a stranger, an outsider, a slave. As Ephesians 2:19 says: \u201cYou are no longer strangers, sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.\u201d That\u2019s what God in Christ has done, as Paul writes in Romans 6:5: \u201cIf we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What then is the final point about all this? It\u2019s like the couple whose young daughter became quite ill with a rare brain tumor. They took her to one specialist after another, but all declined to operate. They lost hope and began to plan accordingly. But then someone referred them to a doctor who specialized in this particular kind of brain surgery. He agreed to take their daughter as his patient. He operated, and it was successful. Instead of losing their daughter, she was restored to them. They were overcome with relief and joy. He had given them this great gift!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We rejoice in every Baptism, the greatest of gifts. As Ephesians 2:12 says: Once we were lost and \u201cstrangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world.\u201d But now, we have a \u201cliving hope\u201d (1 Peter 1:3) because of what the Lord has done. And those who have been baptized into his death and resurrection \u201chave been done.\u201d We have been made us his own sons and daughters, \u201ccitizens of the household of God\u201d (Ephesians 2:19), and we thank him and rejoice. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ephesians 2:11-22<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the Nineth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n

Many years ago, in the weeks after a baby was born, people would ask: \u201cHas the child been done?\u201d By which they meant: \u201cHas the baby been baptized?\u201d <\/p>\n

That question, \u201cHas the baby been done?\u201d strikes us as old-fashioned, but it\u2019s right about the main thing. There are three basics to the main thing.
\nThe first of the basics is: What has God done? What God has done is summarized in the Apostles\u2019 Creed or more usefully in the Nicene Creed, which is the far more universal creed among Christians.
\nSelect here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10123"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10128,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10123\/revisions\/10128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}