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Harassed, but Not Overcome - Pastor Stiemke |
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2nd Sunday after Pentecost, ??06
In the Name of JESUS!
Sir, we would see JESUS!
Emmanuel (6/18)
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
?¨Harassed, but Not Overcome?Æ
Holy
and merciful God, as Your Spirit enabled St. Paul to trust you both in
good times and days of great trial and persecution, draw us into the
waiting arms of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ, so that we also may be
filled with great joy and peace in believing in all circumstances. Help
us likewise to be imitators of our Savior so that the world sees that
in You, our Triune God, we have the One thing needful for time and
eternity, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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The
holy inspired Word of God that forms the basis of my message today is
the reading from 2 Corinthians 4:5-12, that was read earlier.
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In the name of Jesus, our only Savior, precious people of God:
St.
Paul very soon after his conversion to faith in our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, and to his dying day had to face much opposition. Those
who caused him so much grief were not only unbelievers outside the
Church, but also false teachers within the Church. They were ?¨the sheep
in wolves clothing,?Æ about which our Savior forewarned His disciples.
Paul??s enemies were Satan??s helpers trying to wean folks away from the
blessed truth that Jesus alone can save people from their sins and all
spiritual enemies. Is this true today? Do we have enemies who want to
pull us away from our Savior? One doesn??t have to look very far outside
the USA to know that religious radicals overseas are not only
harassing, but even killing people who claim to be or even look like
they might be Christians.
Within our own country, with the
immigrations bringing many folks who come from other cultures and
religious persuasions especially into larger metropolitan areas, there
are a growing number of people of other faiths trying to woo followers
of Christ away from our only Savior. Asheville itself is a hotbed of
Eastern religious groups, and among others a modern version of the
Gnostic heresy that denies that Jesus Christ became a man true, and
Earth Religions including Wiccan witch covens. These heresies are
particularly attractive to teenagers and young adults. Like ancient
heresies, they all ultimately lead one to trust in what they do, rather
than in our Lord, who cared enough to come to earth as our one and only
Savior, who loves, forgives and cares for us.
But are such
enemies even lurking within the Church? Of course! Satan still wants to
reach out and lead us anyway he can into his dark fold. Look at the
many divisions in Christendom even in our own country. The devil
certainly does not want us to see the light of Christ. He wants to
sabotage our faith in Jesus by having us question on whom we should
base our hopes for eternal salvation. Our spiritual enemy wants to turn
us into being our own worst enemies.
Satan delights when he sees
us doubting whether Jesus really forgives our sins. The old devil also
roars with approval when we start hoping that God accepts us for a
place in heaven because of what we do, because we think we??re ?¨better?Æ
than many other people. That sly old rascal is filled with glee when we
think we are going to heaven because we are members of the right church
or hold to the correct doctrines. God forbid! No church died for us.
Important as it is to reexamine the teaching and practice of Emmanuel
Lutheran Church to see that all teaching, preaching, and worship is
100% true to the Scriptures, our doctrine and practice do not save us!
It??s Jesus alone who cleanses our souls from sin and brings God??s
victory at the time of death ?± the Jesus to whom our church and
doctrines point!
St. Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, gives us the
response to use to answer the questions and false hopes that Satan puts
into our head. He tells us to remember, ?¨What we proclaim is not
ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.?Æ [2 Corinthians 4:5] That
statement agrees 100% with Jesus?? words, ?¨I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.?Æ [John 14:6] The
only One who can dispel the darkness of sin, death, the devil and all
that is evil is our loving Triune God. Thus St. Paul writes in our text
today, that God, who at the time of creation caused light to shine out
of darkness, now ?¨has shone in our hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God?Æ ?± WHERE? ?± ?¨in the face of Jesus
Christ.?Æ [2 Cor. 4: 6] As the hymn writer aptly wrote, ?¨Jesus! Jesus!
only Jesus can my heartfelt longing still.
As we take
seriously the onslaught of the enemies of Jesus Christ against our
faith both within and without the Church, with the Holy Spirit??s help
we should be like the Bereans, whom Scripture commends because they
searched the Bible first before accepting that what Paul taught them
was God??s truth.
Because of the content of today??s sermon
text, I want to focus on just one such false teaching that subtly, or
not so subtly, can destroy a person??s faith. It is taught and held by
too many who claim Jesus as their Savior. Listen carefully to what many
television and radio evangelists preach. Many often proclaim that if
one has enough faith in God then that individual will never face
financial hardship, physical malady or danger. But nothing could be
farther from the truth! No human being on earth has perfect faith. Our
heavenly Father does not save us or bless us because we have perfect
faith. The Lord saves us and blesses us only because Jesus is our
perfect Savior.
As a former institutional chaplain working at
first in mental hospitals, I ministered many times with persons who
believed with all their hearts that they were going to hell because
they sinned against the Lord. They knew they had not reached perfection
as their personal preachers mandated. What a tragedy! Their clergy
preached damnable heresy, and those poor folk believed them. They knew
not our Savior??s readiness to forgive all and any one sin to everyone
trusting Him.
Unfortunately, due to the messed up brain
chemistry involved in depression, some individuals who trust Christ as
Savior get parallel feelings and delusions. God forbid that this
happens to you! Only those who have experienced the depths of
depression know what that??s like. At times like this we must find
special comfort in the sure words of Scripture recorded in 1 John 3:15,
?¨For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart ?ñ?Æ
Regarding
the possibility of our facing painful, difficult days, even perhaps
persecution at the hand of unbelievers, recall the words of our Savior,
?¨A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.?Æ
[Matthew 10:24] Then Jesus went on to tell His followers that they
might face harassment from Christ??s enemies, adding, ?¨And do not fear
those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who
can destroy both body and soul in hell.?Æ If you do not face hard times,
it is God in His wisdom who graciously spares you. However, if your
faith is tested by trials, Jesus will indeed give you His grace
sufficient for your every need and His strength, which is made perfect
in weakness. [2 Corinthians 12:9]
St. Paul who wrote those
very words in the 12th chapter of this same epistle didn??t just dream
up this wonderful assurance from our Lord. First of all, as is true of
the entire Bible, none other than God the Holy Spirit, who never lies,
inspired these words. But, humanly speaking, they also came out of what
the world calls ?¨the school of hard knocks.?Æ In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul
lists imprisonment, beatings and stoning, and shipwrecks among the many
hardships he faced. But Paul was never alone! Jesus was always with him
to see him through all his trying days. Thus, he could also confidently
face his impending death.
Paul??s confidence in the face of
danger and trial did not just come because He knew Jesus would keep His
promise to be with him at all times. He also knew Jesus as his Savior
when his faith wavered. He trusted that Jesus also had him in mind when
our Lord prayed on the cross, ?¨Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they do.?Æ Paul, I??m sure, often recalled how Jesus set him free to
bring the saving Gospel to the Gentiles when he had started out on the
Damascus Road, as yet unconverted, to imprison early Christians. Paul
was harassed but not overcome!
So what does
all this have to say to each of us today? Well, one way would be to
say, I am going to avoid all false teachings both from within myself
and from without. We might even add, I??m not going to trust that Jesus
will completely make everything ?´peaches and cream?? by the world??s
standards during my earthly life.?Æ We could tell others, ?¨I know
without a doubt that Jesus will lead me safely through all trials
during my earthly life.?Æ But did you hear the ?¨BIG I?Æ in those
statements? If we were to do these things, we would be caught in the
devil??s trap of trusting ourselves and what we can do. That??s idolatry
?± pushing God out of first place in our hearts! No, rather may the
Spirit lead us more faithfully to trust that ?¨GOD is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble.?Æ [Psalm 46:9] Only Jesus, the
Light of the world, dispels the darkness of our sin and false beliefs
even when our faith is weak and shaken. For ?± our sufficiency is of our
God, whose love for us is perfect through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In
Him we are nit overcome!
Did you really hear what I said? Let me
repeat: ?¨GOD is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble.?Æ Our sufficiency is of our God, whose love for us is perfect
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Then if harassed, we shall not be
overcome!
?¨Lord, give us such a faith as this;
And then whate??er may come,
We??ll taste e??en now the hallowed bliss
Of an eternal home.?Æ Amen.
[William H. Bathurst, alt. 1832: The Lutheran Hymnal, 396, stanza 6]
To GOD alone be glory!
© Rev. Frederick A. Stiemke, D.D.,
Emmanuel Lutheran Church
Asheville, NC, June 18, 2006
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 10 April 2007 )
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