Can't make it to church, but still want to hear God's Word, below are the recent sermons given during the Worship Hour.

Third Sunday in Lent   --   March 11, 2007

“Christ in the Exodus – Christ in Corinth – Christ Today”   --   I Corinthians 10:1-13

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, from God the Son and from God the Holy Spirit, One eternal God.  Amen.

The text for our sermon is the Epistle of the Day, especially verses 1-4,  “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.  For they (all) drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”  This is God’s Word.

    Even though the temperature may reach 60 degrees today, perhaps you may still enjoy thinking of a cruise in a balmy area of the Caribbean.  Wouldn’t an 85 degree day be so very welcome?  Oh, I think so.  Well, imagine that you are on a cruise ship sailing from San Marcos to Belize, Central America.  The temperatures will vary between 75 and 95 degrees every day.  No clouds in the sky!  Conditions couldn’t be better!  All of a sudden, an unexpected squall blows in some very strong winds and 2 people are swept overboard.  The alarms are sounded.  The rescue plan is set into motion.  A life preserver is thrown to both of them.  A life-boat is lowered.  One person was happy and quickly grabbed the preserver with both arms and held on for dear life.  The other, a good swimmer, believed he could do better on his own, pushed the preserver away, and was lost.  Which of the two are you?  (pause) And if you are the one hanging onto the preserver, will you keep hanging on until you are safely pulled up onto the ship, the good ship in heaven?  Or is there the temptation to let go and do things your own way?

    The Israelites were graciously saved by God from slavery to the Egyptians.  God threw them a life preserver -- Moses.  Moses was sent to them after they had been in Egypt for about 400 years.  Their early forefathers had gone to Egypt as a small band, Jacob and his sons, their wives and children.  They were forced out of Israel because of continued drought and famine.  Joseph had been taken to Egypt after he had been sold into slavery to a traveling band of Midianites.  Joseph became Prime Minister of Egypt and saved many lives by storing excess grain that was then used during the famine.  Joseph was a hero in Egypt.  However, it was just a few generations until the people of the land forgot about Joseph.  They made his relatives and descendants slaves and they remained slaves for many generations until God raised up Moses to lead them to the Promised Land.

     Moses was a prophet of God.  He was the spiritual leader and the secular leader of the Israelites.  After the very first Passover, in which every first born of man and beast was killed by the angel of death, unless the doorways were smeared with blood, the Egyptian leaders chased the Israelites out of Egypt.  The Israelites were united as one people, by their forced exodus from Egypt and their walking through the Red Sea.  They were saved by water, and then protected under the cloud – the cloud representing God.  They were separated from the Egyptians first of all by the water and then for years, by the cloud.  They were one people under God, guided by the covenant given to Moses.  The Israelites were separated from their old ways among the Egyptians.

    When our text speaks of being “baptized into Moses”, that means a new way of life.  Instead of being slaves, instead of being forced to make bricks, and instead of doing all the menial tasks the Egyptians didn’t want to do, now they were free to follow the cloud OR go do whatever they wanted to do.  This “Baptism” by passing through the Red Sea initiated a new life.  Furthermore, recalling that saving event and retelling the details helped sustain and maintain this new life as God’s chosen people.

    While we think of Jesus only coming into existence when Mary gave birth to him, the eternal Son of God was present before Creation, and at Creation, and with the Israelites in the rock that provided water and in the manna from heaven.  Christ’s presence provided the way out of the wilderness.  Those who followed closely and diligently with the cloud, grasping onto God in faith were saved.  Unfortunately, not everybody thought Moses was a life-preserver.  Those who rejected him, rejected God, and went their own way,  and they were lost.

     The Corinthians were saved by God from slavery to the pagan way of life in Corinth.  God sent them a life preserver – Paul.  Paul warned them to stay away for the covetous, the extortioners, the idolaters, fornicators, revilers, or drunkards.  He even chastised them for being so very tolerant of the actions of others that they tolerated a man living with his father’s wife.  But, it was gross sexual immorality, and they were so proud of their being tolerant that they tolerated such immorality.  Paul told them to kick the man out of their community.

    God sent Paul to them to be their leader and their prophet, just as God had sent Moses to the Israelites of old.  The Corinthian Christians were united as a new people by Baptism into Christ.  In so doing, they were separated from former ways of ungodly living.  Baptism into Christ meant a new way of life.  Recalling their Baptism and salvation in Christ, strengthened in the reception of the Lord’s Supper, their faith was sustained and preserved.

     The Lord Jesus Christ was present through the apostle’s words and in the sacraments that accompanied the Corinthians.  Christ’s presence provided the way out of sinful dangers.  Thus, as with the Old Testament Children of Israel, those who rejected Paul and God’s Word were lost.  Those who held onto the Good News of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified were saved.  Those who held onto Paul’s teaching did so by the faith that was given to them by the Holy Spirit.

     The case with us is similar to that of the Old Testament Israelites as well as with the New Testament Corinthians.  God has sent us a life preserver – His Word.  We are graciously saved by God from the temptations of the world that would lead us to embrace our pagan culture.  Christ has given us His Word and pastors and teachers to help us understand and grasp that Word.  When Christ told his disciples that he would never leave them nor forsake them, that is exactly what he meant, but not in the manner in which they had hoped.  Christ was with them in His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit, just as he is with us today.

    We, being led by Christ’s under-shepherds are united as one people by Baptism into Christ.  We are separated from self-centered living.   Our Baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus means a new death and a new life for us.  Our Baptism initiates both the drowning of our sins and the resurrection of our new life in Christ.  As we remember our baptism, our faith is sustained and preserved, and in this way, our new identity as servants of Christ is preserved.

    Christ is present in the waters of Holy Baptism.  He is present in the bread and wine of Holy Communion.  He is present in the spoken and proclaimed Word.  His presence provides the way out of sins that continue to tempt us and threaten us with death.  Those who reject him are lost.  Those who grasp onto him are saved.

    The Christian life is like a journey on a ship.  From time to time, for a variety of reasons, we each find ourselves swept overboard, swimming in a sea of doubt and temptations.  We cannot swim long on our own.  We need something to hold on to, something to connect us to Jesus.  It is our Baptism into his name.  Baptism into Christ is our life preserver.  The Old Testament people were saved through water.  The Corinthians were saved through the water of Baptism.  We are saved through the water of Baptism because that water is connected with God’s Word and God is always faithful.

     He will never permit temptations that we can not bear.  And when we are tempted, He will provide a way out.  The tragedy is those who choose some way other than the divinely appointed way out.  They thereby succumb to temptation.  Baptism does not eliminate the peril of falling from faith.  Baptism is a means of grace, freely given, never forced on us, and it is never a protective shell that keeps us separated from Satan.  Some do exercise the decision to refuse what God is offering.  They are like those who, when they realize they are drowning, push away the life preserver thrown to them.  They are responsible for their own demise.  And what shall we say of us who grasp and hold on to the life preserver God throws out to us?  We shall praise and thank God for his preserving faithfulness.  After all, we do not praise the one who holds onto the life preserver.  We praise the one who delivered the life preserver, the Suffering Lamb of God.  Amen.