BOAST IN THE LORD!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Old Testament Lesson; Micah 6:1-8
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon Text; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Let us suppose that there is a very highly prestigious position that someone needs to be chosen to fill. This is a position that requires a person with a great degree of sophistication. It is a position that requires a person with a great deal of intellect. It is a position that requires a person with a great deal of influence, the ability to influence other people. It is a position that requires the individual to be connected and networked with many other people. It is a very highly prestigious position, and someone needs to be chosen. It is a position that requires someone who is sophisticated, intellectual, influential, and connected with many other people.
If I were to get out our church’s directory of Holy Cross Lutheran Church and look through the family pictures in there, looking at each person in that directory, I wonder how many of you would make the list to fill that position! How many of you would be possible candidates for such a highly important position? How many of you are sophisticated, intellectual, have a great degree of influence over many people, and are connected with a huge network of people? If we were to go through the directory of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, we probably would not find many people to fill that position, or even make it on that list.
Now let’s go to the most prominent position we can possibly imagine, the highest position there is! The position that I am talking about is to be in glory with our Savior for all eternity, and rule with Him in glory for all eternity. That is the highest position that anyone could ever be chosen for. The highest position that you could ever be chosen for, is when God hand picks you, points at you, and says, "I want you to stand by my Son, to be one of my children, to be in my family, to be called my son or my daughter." There is no higher position that anyone could be chosen for and called to, than that position!
Now if I go through our church’s directory of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, and I look at the names of the people in this book, I notice that every family here, whether wise or unwise, sophisticated or unsophisticated, rich or poor, influential or not influential, these people have been chosen for the highest and most honored position that anyone could ever imagine! Which is exactly what St. Paul was talking about to the Corinthian congregation, when he was contrasting worldly positions with Heavenly positions.
In worldly positions we value things like sophistication, intellectual ability, strength, and influence. All those things help us choose whom we might consider for some great, worldly position. St. Paul contrasts that with the greatest position of all, which is to sit with God, rule for all eternity at Christ’s right hand, and to be one of God’s chosen sons or daughters.
What does St. Paul, under divine inspiration, say to the Corinthian congregation (just like he would say to Holy Cross Lutheran Church congregation)? St. Paul says, "Remember what you were, when you were called. Not many of you were wise, by worldly standards. Not many of you were influential. Not many of you were of noble birth."
What is God telling us here? God is telling us that when He chose us for that highest, holy and most honored position to be His sons and daughters, He was NOT influenced by the things that influence the world. He was not influenced by our wisdom. He was not influenced by our sophistication. He was not influenced by our power or our worldly influence. He was not influenced by any of those things. In fact we come to see that God’s choice has nothing to do with who we are, but rather it is all by grace. It is simply a matter of grace. It is a free gift! In God’s loving kindness, He has chosen you for the highest and holiest position that anyone could ever occupy! And it is a position for all eternity!
If you think that God chose you because of your intellectual superiority, your great wisdom, your great ability to know things that many other people don’t know and can’t even begin to know, if you think that God is impressed by that, and you think that is why God chose you to be His child, then I would like you to get in the car with me and the two of us drive together up to Watertown Wisconsin, to a place called Bethesda Lutheran Home. It is a home for the developmentally disabled. I would like you to sit down with me and with them in Chapel, as they sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so." And, as tears come to their eyes, knowing that Jesus is their savior, knowing they will reign with Him for all eternity, and they are His sons and His daughters, that they have been chosen for the highest position possible, and you step into that situation with me, can you tell me God chose anyone in this world, due their great intellectual superiority? NO! It is by grace, and by grace alone, not because of something in us.
If you think that God has chosen you because of the great influence you have over other people, and the ability to steer the direction of things one way or the other, then I would like you to come with me to the home of one our members where a little three year might live. This child has influence over no one. He goes where he is supposed to go. He eats what he is told to eat. He goes to bed when he is told to go to bed. He has no influence over anyone. Watch him as he lays down his palms before the Son of David, and says, "Hosanna in the highest, hosanna to the Son of God." Watch that little one, as he folds his hands at night and says, "Jesus, Savior, wash away all that has been wrong today. Help me everyday to be good and gentle and more like thee." That little one, who has no influence, has been chosen for the highest and holiest position, to rule with God for all eternity and to be called one of God’s sons.
As you watch that little child, can you tell me God has chosen anyone because of the influence they may have in this world. NO! It is by the grace alone, by grace alone that God chooses His people.
If you think that God chose you because of some noble birth that you have, because of your family name, because of who you are, because you may someday end up in the history books as some famous person, then I would like you to come with me to our mission down in Peru. Let’s walk into the house of some family who lives in a cardboard shack. The world takes no note of them, and will not even remember them. They are not known for anything, and there is nothing special about them. Then watch as on the deathbed of the husband or wife, in that lowly, little place, they look lovingly at one another other, they talk to one another and they comfort one another with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead, that has been earned for them by Jesus Christ. They have the knowledge and full assurance that they will see one another again in Heaven, chosen to be God’s holy, special people in that highest position. They are God’s son and daughter.
As you look at them, can you tell me God chooses anyone in this world because there is something special about us? It is by grace alone that God chooses us, for that high position. In fact St. Paul goes on and he says, "Think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many of you were influential. Not many of you were of noble birth, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world, the despised things and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are."
There it tells us, who God chose. Was it on the basis of something in us? NO! He chose the weak, the lowly the despised the things that are not!
Who is it that God wants to talk to? Who is it that God wants to show His mercy to? Who is it that God wants to save? He talks to, shows His mercy to and saves those who stand before God and recognize that when it comes to God, our wisdom, all of our superior wisdom is but a drop in the sea compared to the vast wisdom of God. I am nothing before Him. I am nothing before God. In fact my wisdom, as God describes it in scripture, my human wisdom by nature is opposed to God. It doesn’t know the things of God. It can’t know the things of God. It can’t know how to be saved, on its own power. And, my wisdom leads me on the wrong path, when it comes to doing what is right in God’s eyes. I am nothing before God. Those are the people that God wants to talk to.
The foolish of this world, are those who recognize their foolishness in God’s eyes.
The weak ones of this world are those who recognize that for all the strength I have, compared to God who rules the wind and waves, who made the sky and the sea, my strength is insignificant. It is not impressive to God. It is nothing! It is nothing! In fact, if I were to gather up all my strength and work my hardest with all my might and all my ability, I would not impress God.
What does the Bible say about this? The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death." The most I could earn, the most I could deserve on my own is death, because I am a sinner before God. I will do wrong before God. The weak of this world, are the people God wants to talk to and God wants to show His mercy to, and God wants to save!
What about our birth? Do we have a special name before God, some special family that we belong to? NO! We were born in to the Family of Adam. Scripture tells us what I have inherited from my Family of Adam. "Behold I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." The most my family name brings me is sin. I was born in sin. I was born an enemy of God. I don’t deserve to have God love me or care about me in any way, whatsoever.
It is those who recognize that the family I was born in to is the Family of Adam, which God wants to talk to, show His mercy to, and save! Those are the people that God promises in His word that He wants to talk to, show His mercy to, and those are the ones He wants to save! Those are the people who realize in the eyes of God, "I am foolish. I am weak. I am nothing. And I am lost." God says to them, "It is because of Him, Jesus Christ, that you are in Jesus Christ who has become for us wisdom from God." That is our righteousness, our holiness and our redemption.
Anyone who is troubled over their powerlessness, weakness, and insignificance before God, understanding that there is nothing in me that should cause God to chose me to that highest position, to reign with Him in Heaven, to be one of His sons or daughters, needs to know what scripture says. God says, "It is because of Jesus Christ that you have His wisdom!"
God has given you wisdom that surpasses any wisdom that could ever be found in this world, because it is the wisdom of salvation.
It is the wisdom that God so loved you that
He sent His Son to die,
His Son to die,
in your place,
for your sins and
you are forgiven!
It is God who tells us in today’s scripture that Jesus Christ has become our righteousness. The righteousness that God is looking for in me, He is not going to find in me, because I am not righteous. But, in Jesus Christ, He has found that righteous and that holy perfect life. Jesus has become my righteousness. His holy, perfect life is mine! Scripture tells me that. And, because of what Jesus did for me, God sees me as holy and righteous! He calls me to that position to be with Him in Heaven, to be His son or daughter, for Jesus sake!
God didn’t choose us, because of something special in us. God chose us by grace, and by grace alone. It is a free gift!
It is absolutely,
totally,
completely,
an undeserved,
free gift!
We have been chosen for that
greatest,
highest and
holiest position
to reign with God,
to reign with God,
for all eternity!
God hand chose us!
"You are my son and
you are my daughter."
Scripture closes today by saying, "Therefore as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." We don’t have anything to boast about in ourselves. We have nothing to boast about. Anything we now have, whether it is great wisdom, or perhaps influence, whatever position we have is a gift of God. It is not by our own doing; it is a gift of God. And, the highest position we have, to be God’s People, is a sheer gift of God. The only boasting we can do is to boast of our Savior! To boast before the world what we have seen, that God in His grace has called us, brought us to faith, saved us from our sins, and insured a home for us in Heaven for all eternity. And, as long as we live on this earth, God leaves us here to boast His name to the world, to tell the our friends, and to tell our neighbors what God wants them to hear. He wants them to know that He is their savior, He came for them, and He died for them so their sins are forgiven! Heaven has been purchased for them. They can have that highest holiest position! They can be called sons and daughters of Christ.
It becomes incumbent upon us and is our great privilege to go forward in this world and boast of a Savior slain.
May I never boast or glory
in the worst my hands have done.
When I boast,
Lord,
may I glory
in the work of
your
dear Son.
Amen.
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