{"id":9243,"date":"2023-09-05T05:01:12","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T12:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9243"},"modified":"2023-09-05T05:01:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T12:01:13","slug":"stand-in-his-strength-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9243","title":{"rendered":"
Stand In His Strength Alone<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

A sermon for the season of Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 18:15-20<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Gospel text for today is this verse, Matthw 18:19: \u201cAgain I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.\u201d That\u2019s really great. If two or three agree on earth about anything, it will be done by God in heaven. It\u2019s true that the next verse says where two or three are gathered in my name.\u201d You might say: \u201cWell, it has to be in his name. there am I in the midst of them.\u201d That\u2019s not too difficult. We often pray, as we should, in Jesus\u2019 name. What does this mean? It\u2019s really something enormous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We look always at how it all works with our feet on the ground. The biggest difficulty in 2000 years of church history is that the church becomes identified with the culture. (There are also those who are counter culture because of that famous verse in Matthew 16:25: \u201c. . . whoever who loses his life for my sake shall find it.\u201d But that is another extremism.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we have here? Another kind of crazy saying? How does it work really? When we start asking about spiritual exercises for Christians, there are some Jesus freaks who want to say: \u201cI want to know God\u2019s will, especially in a crisis. How do I know whom to marry? How do I know what career I should take up? In the years I have, what do I do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the right thing, the Christian thing, to do? That leads us into a whole series of difficulties, at least three major kinds. The first one is to say: \u201cIt\u2019s something I can tell by my feelings.\u201d When we have a great deal of struggle with a decision, then afterwards we might say: \u201cI had peace in my heart. I had a sense of joy in the Lord. Or I had a sense that this is God\u2019s will; it just felt that way.\u201d We hear these sorts of statements: It\u2019s not a matter of the mind but of the heart. After hearing that split of things, what is that which carries us? We might go for a walk in the early morning and be awed by the beauty of creation. Or we might hear some great piece of music and it lifts us up. That which overpowers us is what it\u2019s all about. That\u2019s the Holy Spirit acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second way is that it is a matter of experience. But most of us have been baptized as babies and we don\u2019t remember it. We didn\u2019t make any decision. We didn\u2019t know anything. Nevertheless we were made a child of God. But then it is said, that\u2019s not enough. It has to become real for us by experience, that which transforms us. It\u2019s like the story of the farmer out in his field in the springtime and he looked up and saw the clouds in the sky form the letters \u201cPC.\u201d He thought it was a sign from God that he should sell his farm and become a missionary to \u201cPreach Christ.\u201d But he wasn\u2019t effective in the role and someone said the PC in the sky really meant \u201cplant corn.\u201d We tend to think that there are special experiences of enlightenment that will determine what we should do. What\u2019s real is my experience, it\u2019s real for me and it changes things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, we say: We have to make a decision God\u2019s way. There\u2019s the famous book, Let God Be God.<\/em> Our problem is how can we follow God\u2019s way instead of our own way, and decide his way and let that transform us, change us in a way that is not our will but Thy will. That is a kind of extreme Christian spirituality that is among us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we look at it in each of these three, it\u2019s my feelings, my experience, my decision. It\u2019s all about me. It is a way of trying to manipulate God. Ultimately it is upside down. That\u2019s not the way God works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Lord\u2019s Prayer there is the petition, \u201cThy kingdom come.\u201d Luther\u2019s explanation of this states: \u201cGod\u2019s kingdom comes indeed without our prayer.\u201d His kingdom even if we don\u2019t have the feeling of it, the experience of it, it comes in spite of us. \u201cThy will be done,\u201d God\u2019s will is done whether we do it or not. God\u2019s will is done because he is the one who establishes his good and gracious will. That comes down to that basic reality of baptism. When you and I are baptized, we are truly given the Holy Spirit. We are truly given eternal life, not just a kickstart in that direction. We are truly given the gift of faith, not a kickstart, but it\u2019s truly done. God\u2019s kingdom has come, God\u2019s will has been done for you there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same is true when we come to the Lord\u2019s Supper. You might have slept through the sermon, and you might be enormously bored. You might say you don\u2019t feel very spiritual. What is it that we are doing anyway? I don\u2019t understand it. (Neither do I, of course.) But it\u2019s his doing, his will, not ours, and it doesn\u2019t depend on our experience but on what he has done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A seminary professor told his students that in his life he had had all sorts of feelings, all sorts of experiences, had made all kinds of decisions, but he couldn\u2019t say that any one of those was explicitly and only Christian. After all, we can\u2019t judge. But we are tempted all the time to think we shouldn\u2019t judge others but we can judge ourselves. But we\u2019re not even to judge ourselves; the Lord himself is the one who judges (1 Cor 4:3-5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does the Christian life work? Paul writes about the Christian life in Romans 13:1-10. In Romans 13:8 Paul writes: \u201cWhat then is the law?\u201d He starts with the Ten Commandments: Honor your parents, not commit adultery, not steal, not covet, and adds \u201cany other commandment.\u201d He says all these laws are summed up in this sentence: \u201c\u2019You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; there therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does it all work in the life we live? We all have feelings. We all have experiences. We all make decisions. But that is to be seen under the larger umbrella that the Lord has done it all, and my task now is to care for my neighbor and the way I care for my neighbor is by asking: What does harm? What is the greater harm? The lesser harm? That means we use our common reason and common sense. It doesn\u2019t mean that an overpowering feeling I have, an overpowering experience I have, or an overpowering decision is decisive but rather it means we live by common reason and common sense, considering the consequences. And that is a real struggle. It\u2019s not to go with the culture but it\u2019s not automatically to go against the culture. It is to ask: What is best for my neighbor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course we will make mistakes. \u201cThe heart is infinitely corrupt\u201d (Jeremiah 17:9). \u201cAll our righteous deeds are filthy rags\u201d (Isa 64:6). Even our best works are sinful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We live by the cross. We live by the fact that in anything and everything we are forgiven because it is God\u2019s good and gracious will that we are forgiven because he is creating for us that life forever with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now as we live, we can be caught in looking at ourselves and not looking at him and his big plan, his kingdom, his will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a few moments we will sing: \u201cStand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.\u201d It helps us focus on him, particularly the third verse:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStand up, stand up for Jesus, Stand in his strength alone;
The arm of flesh will fail you, You dare not trust your own.
Put on the Gospel armor; Each piece put on with prayer.
Where duty calls or danger, Be never wanting there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We keep ourselves focused on him, not on us, on his work and his plan which is forever, even as we live now in him as well. That is his good and gracious will. That is the freedom we have in him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sermon for the season of Pentecost<\/p>\n

Matthew 18:15-20<\/p>\n

In the Gospel text for today is this verse, Matthw 18:19: \u201cAgain I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.\u201d That\u2019s really great. If two or three agree on earth about anything, it will be done by God in heaven. It\u2019s true that the next verse says where two or three are gathered in my name.\u201d You might say: \u201cWell, it has to be in his name. there am I in the midst of them.\u201d That\u2019s not too difficult. We often pray, as we should, in Jesus\u2019 name. What does this mean? It\u2019s really something enormous.<\/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-9243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9243","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=9243"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9248,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9243\/revisions\/9248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}