{"id":11174,"date":"2026-01-19T15:09:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T22:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=11174"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:09:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T22:09:02","slug":"a-congregation-is-an-embassy-from-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=11174","title":{"rendered":"A congregation is an embassy from the future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

1 Cor 1:10-21<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our 1 Corinthians text for today, Paul is talking about all the quarreling among the Christians in Corinth. There were factions. There were those who say they belong to Paul, and others who belong to Apollos, and still others who belong to Peter, and those who belong to Christ. Things weren\u2019t going well. It had become a matter of personalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul had to deal with that throughout his career because it had become evident that he wasn\u2019t an impressive person. It seems he might have been an epileptic, or he might have stuttered, or he might have had bad eyesight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who wants a preacher with those problems? Had there been call committees in his day, many would have said: \u201cPaul, thank you for interviewing; we don\u2019t think you\u2019re a good match for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul was attacked not only here, but elsewhere. In 2 Corinthians 10 through 13, he writes that others accused him saying: \u201cPaul, you haven\u2019t really suffered; you haven\u2019t had enough troubles.\u201d He answers in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29, noting how often he\u2019d been imprisoned, beaten. And more. He writes he had been: \u201cThree times shipped wrecked . . . in danger from rivers, robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, in the wilderness, from false brethren.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other opponents of Paul said: \u201cPaul, you don\u2019t know how to do miracles!\u201d Paul responds: \u201cI did more miracles than you did.\u201d But, he adds: \u201cAll of that is irrelevant. What\u2019s relevant is: Is Christ being proclaimed? Is the cross being proclaimed?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That takes it out of the arena of personalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Corinthians 1:17 states: \u201cFor Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every congregation wants a good preacher. It\u2019s hard to thrive without that. But therein lies a temptation for the pastor, that is, to aim for eloquent wisdom or entertaining story-telling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s tempting for the preacher to be \u201cinteresting\u201d and even entertaining. The pastor of a large congregation brought a race car into the sanctuary for one Sunday\u2019s sermon. It was quite a show, but what happened to the word of the cross?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entertainment evangelism and eloquent wisdom are dangerous because then \u201cthe cross of Christ is emptied of its power.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s tempting to think the purpose of a sermon is to persuade you by argument or emotion so that you are convinced and you get on board. When this happens, the Evil One then has us both because that\u2019s not the goal of preaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1 Corinthians 9:16, Paul writes: \u201cWoe to me if I do not preach the gospel!\u201d The test of what it\u2019s about is whether or not the gospel is preached. That means pointing to the cross alone in such a way that there are no preconditions nor postconditions for salvation. Preaching in such a way that we all see our need of a savior and the Savior we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Paul writes in Romans 1:16: \u201cThe gospel is the power of God for salvation.\u201d That\u2019s different from thinking: \u201cOh, it really doesn\u2019t matter what is preached.\u201d Or it doesn\u2019t matter if the pastor tells stories and jokes or uses the sermon to promote alleged \u201cgood\u201d causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s more than a big deal. Salvation is at stake. The Word of the cross is the power of God for salvation, nothing more and nothing less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does that come to you and me? Paul writes in Rom 10:17: \u201cFaith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the preaching of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luther has a striking way of putting this. He says the church is a mouth house, not a book house. The reason is because Christ comes from the future, from his future kingdom, to be with us today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerhard Forde, noted modern Lutheran, said that pastors are essentially ambassadors who are trained and authorized to publicly prosecute the mission of the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forde wrote: A pastor is \u201can ambassador, one who is called, authorized, and sent to do the bidding of the sovereign.\u201d And the bidding or task is \u201cto set people free from sin, death, and the devil by the word of the gospel and to call into being thereby the church which proclaims and waits upon the coming of the eschatological kingdom of God\u201d (\u201cPublic Ministry and its Limits, dialog <\/em>30:2 [1991] 102-03).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you and I drive by churches around town, we can think: \u201cAh, look, there\u2019s another embassy from the future.\u201d We may note the architecture of a church and how it reflects the era in which the church was built. But whatever \u201chistory\u201d is on the outside, the future on the inside. What\u2019s going on inside is that the crucified and risen Christ himself is at work. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:20: \u201cSo we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does this work? It\u2019s in \u201cthe doing of it\u201d that God works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul writes in Romans 10:17: \u201cFaith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the preaching of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 55:11 says: \u201cMy word shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.\u201d God\u2019s Word is effective by itself. If that were not true, I could not stand to be a preacher because then it would depend on me whether it worked or not. Thank God it doesn\u2019t depend on the preacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, it doesn\u2019t depend on our hearing. That verse in Romans 10:17 is worth repeating: \u201cFaith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the preaching of Christ.\u201d In the preaching the Holy Spirit produces faith. Not because of something we do, but rather that God is at work in the doing of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not as if we sit here and gather information and say: \u201cWill I or won\u2019t I be convinced?\u201d The Holy Spirit works through the Word. Thank God! Because otherwise how would we know if we could be sure? How could we be certain? Have I heard it correctly? Have I believed it enough? Have I done the right thing? No. It doesn\u2019t depend on that. God is at work in the doing of it. For this reason, my salvation is sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A congregation is like one beggar telling another beggar where the food is. That\u2019s what it is about. We go to church because that\u2019s where the food is; that\u2019s what the promise is, as it says in Matthew 18:20: \u201cWhere two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the promise, and it doesn\u2019t work elsewhere, not on a mountaintop hike or a walk on a beach. Rather, here is where life is given to us, where the living bread from heaven is given to us. John 6:51: \u201cI am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give to the world is my flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what Paul is saying, too, when he writes: \u201cFor the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s our comfort and our mission. We are here to publicly proclaim the Lordship of Christ and to wait upon the coming of his kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Cor 1:10-21<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany<\/p>\n

In our 1 Corinthians text for today, Paul is talking about all the quarreling among the Christians in Corinth. There were factions. There were those who say they belong to Paul, and others who belong to Apollos, and still others who belong to Peter, and those who belong to Christ. Things weren\u2019t going well. It had become a matter of personalities.<\/p>\n

Paul had to deal with that throughout his career because it had become evident that he wasn\u2019t an impressive person. It seems he might have been an epileptic, or he might have stuttered, or he might have had bad eyesight.<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a> for a pdf version.<\/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-11174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11174","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=11174"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11179,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11174\/revisions\/11179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}