January 29, 2017                                                       Text:  1 Corinthians 1:26-31

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

We all appreciate being in the congregation when a baptism occurs, whether an adult or a baby.  When a baby is baptized we see the well-dressed adoring parents, the loving godparents and of course the child.  Our human eyesight can see the innocent face, the tenderness of infancy and the chubby cheeks.  But we do have a hard time seeing sin in that child.  Holy Scripture weighs in and reminds us that the child is carrying a terrible heredity, the sinfulness of his parents all the way back to Adam and Eve.  The child needs a new start, a new birth.  So we baptize and we see the difference God has made by bringing him or her into the church family.

Paul’s words to us today remind us that God chose us.  And therefore . . .

“WHAT A DIFFERENCE A SAVIOR MAKES!”

Nature tells us things are not how they used to be.  Disaster brings changes.  Tornadoes changed lives in the south recently.  Hurricanes can destroy whole towns; fires can take out thousand-year-old growth in days.  Once the ancient city of Pompeii was a thriving community.  The next it was overthrown and frozen in time by volcanic eruption.  Christ calmed the storm.  He is Lord over all things in nature.

Disease brings changes.  Cancer has ravaged athlete and weak, family member and friend, maybe even you.  Multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis have sapped life from young people.  Christ healed the sick.  He is Lord over all things pertaining to the body.

Decay brings changes.  Jesus reminded us that moth and rust consume our goods.  We are still buying Rust-Oleum and moth crystals and cedar chests.  Christ lives forever and changes not.  He will take you to live with Him in eternity.

Our lives tell us that we are not how we once were.  Adolescence is a time of change.  We move from being a child to becoming an adult.  We look at life differently, we understand our beliefs better and we want to know where we fit in.  This makes choosing good friends so important.  This is why our church equips young people with the solid foundation of confirmation teaching.  Girls no longer have cooties, driving a car is kinda fun, and we are given more responsibility.  Christ was young and died young.  Yet He brings ageless forgiveness.

Aches and pains are reminders of aging.  As teenagers we wanted to be older.  Now that we are older, we might wish we were a little younger.  Our social calendars have changed.  When you were single, you thought of marrying a doctor.  Now you see one every other week.  Christ, who is the Ancient of Days, will be with you in your old age and comfort you in death.

The difference that matters is the difference the Gospel brings.  Look at our text.  The Corinthians were far from desirable, as the world counts desirability.  Their education, influence, and birth status were not notable, yet God chose them.  Our education, influence, and birth status are not known worldwide, yet God has chosen us.

The Corinthians had their problems.  They had factions, public adultery, abuse of the Holy Spirit’s gifts, abuse of the Sacrament, and false doctrine.  How about us?  Do we have factions?  Adultery?  Wrong ideas about doctrine?  Do we neglect the sacrament?

No wonder God had to take matters into his own hands.  And so he came to earth, and he came to a cross.  He took our worldliness and our foolishness and low down rotten sins into his own hands as nails were driven in.  He took these into his feet and side.  God made Christ our redemption through His blood.  Each time we receive his body and blood, we proclaim this and are assured of his love for us.  You and I, the lowly and despised, were given Jesus’ forgiveness.  We are declared no longer guilty.  He became our wisdom, the way we perceive our world and ourselves.

Think of the difference between how you were and how you are in Christ.  If we measure our life in Christ by what great Christians we appear to be, we will concentrate on our appearance before others, and this will breed hypocrisy.  If we measure our life in Christ by the work he accomplished for us on the cross, our whole life becomes redefined by this single act of his.  We are released from the guilt of sin.  He calls this forgiveness. We are delivered from worry over our final end and from all worries between now and then. He calls this eternal life.  We still struggle with the flesh, but we do so not as hopeless people, but as the Lord’s people strengthened by our baptism into Christ.  We will be aware constantly that any effectiveness, any gifts, any way we touch the lives of others is none other than the effectiveness, gift, and touch of Jesus himself, who is using us according to his wisdom.

What a difference a Savior makes!                     Amen.