{"id":8584,"date":"2023-01-03T07:41:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T14:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=8584"},"modified":"2023-01-03T07:43:01","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T14:43:01","slug":"the-lord-himself-comes-shazam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=8584","title":{"rendered":"
The Lord himself comes \u2013 Shazam!<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

The first Sunday after Epiphany<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this Epiphany season we focus on what is practical. How does God work here and now, concretely, practically, really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All analogies fail. But when we\u2019re dealing with the Lord, he knows us better than we know ourselves. When we\u2019re dealing with this, we\u2019re dealing with forever. How does God work practically, now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He works through his Word. It\u2019s not just John 1:1: \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u201d And John 1:14: \u201cAnd the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . .\u201d God comes in his Word and dies and rises again. It is as Paul writes in Romans 1:16: \u201cThe gospel is the power of God for salvation.\u201d It\u2019s important to realize what this Word is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the Word as it comes is not information. When Paul writes about this, he very specifically says, \u201cNot information.\u201d Not \u201cthe wisdom of this age\u201d (1 Cor 2:6) \u201cWhere is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of this age?\u201d (1 Cor 1:20). The \u201cWord\u201d is not information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second place, the Word of God is not persuasive. It\u2019s not to convince us. Again Paul is very specific about this when he writes: \u201cNot with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power\u201d (1 Cor 1:17). He says it\u2019s weak and foolish and scandalous. It\u2019s low and of no account. It\u2019s nothing to boast of. It\u2019s not persuasive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the third place, it\u2019s not a thing. There\u2019s a difficulty with talking about grace or gift as if grace were a gift we are given. Actually what happens is that the Lord comes himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best analogy is from Captain Marvel comics (also the 2019 film, Shazam<\/em>!). There was a character named Shazam, which means zapping. He came himself with power. The Lord comes with power, Shazam!, through his Word, as he himself comes to us now. He died and rose again, and in him we also die and rise. He continues; he is here and not elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ephesians 1:4: \u201cHe chose us in him before the foundation of the world.\u201d In 2 Cor 5:21: \u201cHe made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.\u201d This continues here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This message meets resistance. There are four objections. The first one is: If you took a survey, this is not what people think. They think salvation is about good works. But it\u2019s not. It\u2019s not about doing good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second objection is: What is the gospel, after all? Isn\u2019t it \u201clove\u201d? We come back to 1 Corinthians 1 and 2. What do these chapters say? They say it\u2019s scandalous, foolish, weak, of no account. There\u2019s nothing to boast about. That doesn\u2019t mean that whatever is scandalous, foolish, and weak is the gospel! Rather, it means that as soon as \u201cthe gospel\u201d starts to become without scandal, without foolishness, and something to brag about, we\u2019ve gone wrong. As is marvelously stated in Isaiah 30:10, we beg the false prophets to us \u201csmooth things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third objection comes from those who say: \u201cWhat then do we do to make it work?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some years ago at a large church in South Dakota, the janitor named Jake, a member of the congregation, had the habit of sitting in back with a clicker, counting how many people were in church that day. Then on Monday mornings the pastor would ask: \u201cHow many were in church yesterday?\u201d The janitor would answer 487, 503, or whatever. He\u2019d give a precise count. Then the pastor would ask: \u201cJake, what was the sermon about?\u201d Jake responded with a puzzled look. He had had a very limited education back in Poland and hadn\u2019t really understood the sermons at all. Did that make a difference? The answer is \u201cNo.\u201d The Lord comes directly \u2013 Shazam!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fourth objection: \u201cIsn\u2019t it enough to know about this message from afar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are like slaves up for auction, and there\u2019s one buyer there who will set us free. We want to be there with that one buyer, our Lord, who sets us free. We want to be there to receive his forgiveness, comfort, and freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Paul writes in 1 Cor 2:2: \u201cI decided to preach nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.\u201d When we come forward for the Lord\u2019s Supper, what does this mean in terms of the Word?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Augustine talked about the visible and the audible Word. In the Lord\u2019s Supper we have the visible Word. Do you understand it? I hope not. I don\u2019t understand it. I\u2019ve been at this full time for many years. If you understand it, it makes me nervous because it means you don\u2019t realize what\u2019s at stake here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the message persuasive to you as a modern person? Does it suit you? Convince you? I hope not. There are intricate problems about all this that you haven\u2019t even imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the third place, do you feel it? I hope not. We have all kinds of feelings, but as Paul writes: It is \u201cnot with eloquent wisdom\u201d (1 Cor 1:17). As soon as we depend on our feelings, we\u2019re not depending on the Word which claims us no matter how we feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may think to ask me: Don\u2019t you as a pastor have special power to commune yourself? Sadly, there are some Lutheran pastors who mistakenly practice self-communion. But that is to lose the confession of our sin and his holiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of us, pastors included, receives outside of us, in spite of us. When I with you receive, the Lord himself comes and is truly with us. We die and rise with him. It doesn\u2019t depend on us, and it is forever. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first Sunday after Epiphany<\/p>\n

In this Epiphany season we focus on what is practical. How does God work here and now, concretely, practically, really.<\/p>\n

All analogies fail. But when we\u2019re dealing with the Lord, he knows us better than we know ourselves. When we\u2019re dealing with this, we\u2019re dealing with forever. How does God work practically, now?<\/p>\n

He works through his Word. It\u2019s not just John 1:1: \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u201d And John 1:14: \u201cAnd the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . .\u201d God comes in his Word and dies and rises again. It is as Paul writes in Romans 1:16: \u201cThe gospel is the power of God for salvation.\u201d It\u2019s important to realize what this Word is not.<\/p>\n

Select 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-8584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8584","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=8584"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8590,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8584\/revisions\/8590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}