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Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
You’re Going the Wrong Way! with Pastor Ryan Braley
Ever feel like the constant barrage of political news and social media is taking a toll on your mental and spiritual well-being? Join us for an insightful conversation on how to manage political anxiety with faith, where we promise you'll learn practical ways to keep your sanity and spiritual health intact. We'll explore how to discern and avoid media that stirs unnecessary fear, and instead, focus on living faithfully according to Jesus' teachings, especially during election seasons filled with polarizing rhetoric.
Remember that Jesus is the ultimate king, transcending any political divide. We journey through Paul's letter to the Ephesians, breaking down Ephesians 2 to reveal a three-part message: recognizing our sins, turning towards salvation, and ultimately, rejoicing in Christ. We'll reflect on Paul's encouragement to stay grounded in Christian values amidst societal pressures, helping you maintain your faith even when political chaos looms large.
We'll also share a powerful personal story of transformation, illustrating how walking in God's ways brings life, joy, and abundance. Through Paul's teachings, we'll discuss the impact of worldly values and spiritual forces that lead us astray. Yet, hope shines through God's rich mercy, as His grace saves us despite our sins. Our discussion culminates with a call to action: embrace the transformative journey of salvation, align yourself with God's path, and let your good works be a testament to His divine mercy. Join us at Central Lutheran Church as we strive to actively share God's unwavering love with our community.
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God, we give you thanks this morning for your presence here with us and we ask God that you would inspire us and awaken us this morning. And, god, we ask for, yeah, your grace and mercy to be new in us this morning. And, god, would you bless us and teach us and instruct us and help us to have a deeper understanding of your presence and your love for us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen and may you be seated. Good morning. Everyone Got the whiteboard out this morning. We're all business this morning. We're going to be ready, all right. How are we doing? Good? Thank you, pryor. Pryor was helping me. I assume that note was from Pryor that was on the floor helping me. I assume that note was from prior. That was on the floor. Okay, hey, we are in our Ephesians series. Really quickly, I want to give like a two-minute caveat. So our story you know, one of the things we're trying to do is have a conversation around the cultural movement right now, which is really for many of us, it's sort of at the center of our vision is this election coming up in November, and fair enough, you know, I mean show of hands who can just not wait for this to be over and done with and let's just move. Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure. But here we are and so we want to ask what does it mean to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, in this place and time? How do we live faithfully to the word of God and what we think? You know, this is what we call Christian ethics too. How do we live? And many things in the world are not super black and white. It's kind of we have to figure it out on our own, like the Bible doesn't tell you what kind of a car to buy, uh, or you know how much money to spend on your home. These are things you have to kind of extrapolate after reading the scripture. So part of my job as a pastor isn't up to always get up here and tell you the 15 things to do or 10 things not to do. I mean, I occasion, but I want to kind of give you what I help unpack the scriptures and the tradition and kind of what sort of the stream in which we live in, and then a lot of it's you got to figure out on your own or with your community or with your small group or with me. We can have coffee, but I want to. My job is to give you principles and values and stories from the scriptures, and here's how we can shape you know. And then and then you've got to figure out what does it mean to them to be a faithful Christian going forward? Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:And so, anyway, you know, I had a great conversation with a person. I have her permission to share the story, but she called me on, I think, tuesday, and she's like Ryan, about the election. She's like Ryan. I woke up this morning and I opened my social media feed and I was like uh-oh, right away, huh, and she's like I was just filled with anxiety and on there there was several different kinds of streams of media. She loves decorating, so I had a bunch of decoration posts about how to decorate for the fall, which are always kind of nice.
Speaker 1:Then she had a couple of political ads that had popped up and Kamala and Trump and what Just this vitriolic kind of, and it got her sort of emotively reacting. And then there was one, I think one about kids that she cause. She loves kids and has grandkids, and so it was like this mixture of things and I just felt overwhelmed immediately and so we both agreed and she said maybe I shouldn't have got on there first thing in the morning. I said that's good, the first thing. And then I said, secondly, you know, you know who who curated that. You know, curated that stream of videos? Yeah, me, I know. So the things you click on, they notice that kind of thing. If you didn't know, and also I would say this. So I said you know, hey, she's like I don't know what to do and how to vote and how to think you know, and all these kinds of things. And so we talked about that a little bit and just what's a good approach.
Speaker 1:But what I would love to help all of us understand, or kind of warn us about, is that many of the people that we hear from on our social media feeds or the media in general, they tend to talk like the sky is falling, and so for media online, they do this intentionally to get you to click onto their stories or headlines. They want to trigger a reaction in you that's like an upsetting one, because they know if you're angry or sad or scared, you'll click on it. Okay, I just want to caution you to be careful amongst those kinds of articles and feeds and even voices on the news. If you turn off your social media or the news or whatever channel you watch, you feel anxiety. That's not probably from God, is my guess. I mean concern, yes, or like worry, okay, but when you feel anxiety, that's not probably from god, as my guess. I mean concern, yes, or like worry, okay, but when you feel, like to your core, anxious about a lot of it, maybe you're just ingesting the wrong kinds of media because those things are intentionally trying to get you riled up so you'll click on it. They, their revenue, is generated by you clicking on their stuff and so just be careful of that and, as much as we can, I want us to be people who build our houses on the rock, not on the sand.
Speaker 1:So when things, when everyone around us like losing their minds and they're like, if we don't vote for so and so we're gonna, everything's been good, we're all going, we're over here, we're oh, the country's going to hell in a handbag, I get it and I understand the fear and I but like, may you not get caught up in the mania and the fear-mongering of either side? Everybody does it and some folks, like some good friends and relatives of mine, they don't mean malicious intent, they just get swept up in it. And I would love to see us be a little bit more measured and temperate in our responses to these kinds of things. Like, let's slow down and think we don't have to have an opinion right away, we can be slow to think and think deeply about these things and when our friends and neighbors are losing their minds, we can be a little more steady because, again, our trust is in god, not in all the things, and be a be a citizen and vote and do all that, do your research and go and vote and understand the policies and, um, you know. But, like, try to weed your way through all the fear mongering, okay, because that's not, doesn't help, and so, uh, that's all I'll say about that.
Speaker 1:But then my friend said so we were talking about that and my friend goes ryan, I, just I was. I felt better when I realized that neither of these candidates are going to be in charge of the kingdom of god. Yes, that's right. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Like that I said can I share the stories of? Yes, because you guys, neither one of these is Jesus. I'm just telling you that.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so Jesus is king. And if you're a Christian. If you're not here, then you can just sort of tune out for a second. You're welcome to listen. But if we're believers and citizens of the kingdom of God, then Jesus is our example and our king and our Lord, not anybody else. So be a part of this country that's great and vote and do your due diligence and please study and understand it and talk to friends and that's awesome. Please do that. But also remember Jesus is king and is our king. And so, as Paul writes, or David writes, some trust in horses and chariots. We trust in the name of the Lord, our God, and so just remember where our trust is and, at the end of the day, our trust is in the kingdom of God and Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Does that make sense? Is that helpful? Okay, so let's be people who measure it and just slow and steady and not get caught up in all the madness of the crowds. The crowds can get mad sometimes, and you probably experienced this, and just be careful of that. Okay, that's all I'll say.
Speaker 1:So Ephesians Paul writes a letter to this church in Ephesus, western Turkey, modern-day Western Turkey, and it's an incredibly thriving city. It's the third largest city in the empire. Lots of arts and culture, lots of pagan worship, bizarre sorcery and strange magical kinds of rituals. And the goddess Artemis is there and she's alive and well and she's worshipped in this temple called the Temple of Artemis. It's one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Beautiful temple, massive, and it's very lucrative business to worship Artemis, so there's lots of money to be kind of passed around. The people experience all kinds of luxuries, and then Paul goes there to visit and he births this baby little community of Christians and they're trying to figure out how do I live in this world? That's going this direction and I want to go that direction. And again, it's very similar to what we experience in our lives. The values of the culture or the ideologies of the culture maybe are in contradiction with what you value and these kinds of things. And that's nothing new is what I want to say.
Speaker 1:So just, first of all, know that this is an old story and that's so. You're in good company. But he writes a letter Now. Normally his letters are like hey, be careful of this, stop being idiots about that. You guys are wrong here. Paul's not doing that in Ephesians, he's actually just kind of playing the hits. He's talking about all kinds of wonderfully, you know, basic Christian tenets. I love it. It isn't his deepest letter, not his most moving or compelling. I like it though, but I mean it's good. It's a good book, but it's a letter. He's just sort of talking about Christianity in general.
Speaker 1:And so this morning, ephesians 2, open your bibles. I think it's page 949, 949, 9, somebody tell me, somebody, help me out here. You guys missed it earlier at the baptist. I had him standing for like 20 minutes in that time. No one even warned me or something. What is it? 9, what? 949? Perfect, okay, thanks, so okay, 949.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 2 paul really gives them this, this, this little chunk of scripture that we have heard probably again and again, and again. So it's wonderful, and if you noticed, and I'm sure you did it's really a three-part play. So, just for clarity's sake, I'm going to show you. So this is Paul's three-act play. I love it. So I'm going to draw on the board here.
Speaker 1:So here's act one, here's act two. Okay, good, we're all clear on that. Here's act two, thank you, thank you, thank you. Is that you, jeremy, my man, I'll give you, I'll give you five dollars later. Okay, then act three is down here Now, just to even wow you and impress you even more, I did name them all.
Speaker 1:Are you ready for their names? Act act one is cleverly entitled uh-oh. Everyone say uh-oh, that was a great job, okay, number. Act two is entitled the Turn Ooh mystery. I just created suspense right there with that, the Turn. And act three is called woo-hoo. Everyone say woo-hoo, oh, that was way too easy. You guys are a bunch of sheep just sputting. No, I'm kidding. Yeah, this is it. This is his three-act play. Are you ready?
Speaker 1:Years ago I was in Nashville, tennessee, with my wife and some friends and we were in Nashville. It was right after COVID and Nashville shut down right around COVID time at 1 o'clock in the morning. Normally those and Nashville shut down like right around COVID time at one o'clock in the morning. Normally those folks party till three or four, whatever it is in the morning. But this time in Nashville they were closing everything down and kicking people out at one o'clock, which was fine by me. I'm not staying up till three in the morning these days any longer. I'm like one o'clock sounds great.
Speaker 1:And so one o'clock rolls around and we were ready to head out of town and it was us and my friend Derek and Courtney, and I think Sarah was there as well, and Katie, and so the girls were like we're really hungry. And me and my buddy Derek were like we're really magnanimous, gentlemen. We're like we're, don't worry, we got this. We're gonna go find you some pizza. You ladies, go back to the hotel room, we'll take care of you. And they're like, oh, they swooned and you know, and smiled. So we took them back to the hotel.
Speaker 1:Like we googled and we found this wonderful local mom-and-pop pizza joint. It's in Nashville. It's called Domino's Pizza. Maybe you've heard of it. It's great, you've got to check it out. And so I got the Apple Maps open. I'm like I don't know where we are. We're in Nashville. I've never been there. So I opened it up and you're like when you're walking it's a little bit trickier, because you're like, does it know where I am? You're like am I going the right? This is the way. So we started walking towards Domino's Pizza. It's a great mom and pop Domino's shop and we're just talking and we're just like we're going to be heroes, getting our wives, our hungry wives, some pizza and we're going to pay for it. It's going to be awesome. They're going to love us. It's going to be romantic.
Speaker 1:And then, about four minutes later, I look down at my phone. It's a five-minute walk, it tells you on the phone. And I look down four minutes in and it says seven minutes to go. Seven minutes to go. Now, I didn't go to college for math, but I'm like that doesn't your phone when it's not working. I shook it. I'm like this has got to be wrong.
Speaker 1:So we kept going because I was confident no, we're going the right way. This is just must not, it must not really be able to see where we really are. But I know it's down this way. We kept on going and Derek was like, are you sure? Of course I'm sure, man, I had all the confidence in the world. My phone must be broken. So we kept walking. And I looked down about three minutes later and I'm like, oh, it's got to be a minute away. And my phone said 12 minutes away. Then I sort of began to worry a little bit. So I did this again and I shook it and turned it around and all of a sudden it went. Whew, I was like, oh no, and he goes. We were going the wrong way. We were going the wrong way the entire time, and the whole time I had all the confidence in the world. I'm like no, we're going the right way, although I had no idea where we were going, because I'd never been to Nashville, and I realized we had walked 12 minutes the wrong direction. Not just the wrong, but the exact opposite direction of where we wanted to go. So now, not only am I five minutes from the dominoes, I'm an additional 12 minutes away from where I started from, because we had gone the wrong way.
Speaker 1:Anybody ever gone the wrong direction? Paul says it this way Go ahead for me, kelsey. Paul says as for you, you were dead in your transgressions. By the way, the technical term there is uh-oh, and by dead he means dead, not living, not alive. Any questions about that. That makes sense.
Speaker 1:Dead In your transgressions and your sins. The word there is the word hamartia in the Greek, which I'll get to in a minute in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world. In other words, you, lads and lassies, lasses, ladies, you were going the wrong way and, of course, the ways, the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the power of the air. What paul's? You guys were going the wrong way, following the ways of the world and the ruler of the powers of the air this very mystical language Of course the Ephesians would have been very familiar with this kind of thing but he tells them you're going the wrong way and because of that you were walking towards death.
Speaker 1:In fact, you were dead. How's that for some good news? This morning, he says many times Paul actually equates death and sin. So, for example, in Colossians 2, he says hey, you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh. So when you gave yourselves over to these, like these desires of the flesh, it led to death. Paul also writes in Romans. He says that sin reigned in death. Wherever there's sin and I'll unpack that in a minute there's always death. Then in Romans I believe it's eight or six he says the wages or the consequences, the natural outpourings of sin, is always death. So Paul says hey, you guys were going the wrong way and it led to death.
Speaker 1:You ever gone the wrong way? Some of you here this morning just need to hear am I off, chris, I'm good, good, okay. Some of you here this morning hey, you're going the wrong way. You ever gone the wrong way. You've gone the wrong way and maybe it's because you were confused and didn't know which was the proper way. No one told you which way was the way to go. Maybe you just thought you were going the right way. You got lost and you found yourself in some dark alley with people you don't really know, doing things you never thought you'd do. Or maybe you knew you were going the wrong way. You're like I don't care, I'm going this way anyway. And you found yourself going the wrong way.
Speaker 1:I tell this story a lot, so forgive me, but I love this story. It's not a flattering one of me, but when I was younger, me and some buddies got into a bad habit in high school and a bit after of just drinking way too much. And the problem with drinking I'm just going to tell you in case this is maybe something for you to evaluate. But the problem in my own life with drinking is like just the relationship between alcohol and like what it was trying to mask in my own life. Like this thing was begging for me, begging for my attention, and I would kind of mask it or numb it out with alcohol. So I could never deal with this thing because, like the alcohol always just made it go away, which was kind of the point. You're like, oh, I feel better now. Surprise, it's still there. So that was the problem.
Speaker 1:And as a young man I had lots of these things like begging for my attention and we just didn't care and I didn't know how to. So I was drinking, whatever, and it felt good and fun. But over the course of time, maybe you're like, I just had this sense I was just going the wrong way and I was like, what am I doing? And one night we were with some friends at a party and I was because I had had this incredible encounter with God when I was younger and I never forgot about it. But I was at a party one night and me and a friend of mine who's also kind of, you know, this sort of this guy who had a faith we were on the front porch and we'd had a little bit too much to drink, and I just remember looking at him, just having a deep sense in my spirit that I was going the wrong way, and I said to him I go, man, what are we doing out here? Like, what are we doing? Yeah, what are we doing? And I just felt this deep sense I was going the wrong way, because wherever I was going, it was not leading to life. And maybe you've been there where you're like you've wandered down some path and you're like, not only what am I doing out here? But like this is not life, this is not good.
Speaker 1:In the Hebrew mind, they had this sense of life being like a path that you would follow, like a journey, and the righteous would follow a pathway of righteousness towards righteousness, or living a right life, or or life with god. And it wasn't like god had all these strict rules to keep you from having fun. It's like no, live in these ways, because they bring and breed life. If you want life, walk this way. And so the righteous would walk on the ways of god, the laws of god, the, the ideals of god and the values of these kinds of god. And for those that didn't want to, god wouldn't force them. They would probably turn and walk the opposite direction. And, of course, if you're walking away from life or away from abundance or away from joy, you're walking towards, you know, non-life, non-joy, non-abundance, and you're walking, as Paul would say, you're walking towards death. Some pathways lead to nowhere and many of them are wide and they're well paved, they got lots of bright lights and they feel good. They lead to nothing or they lead to death. And Paul's like you were dead in your transgressions, in the ways you were walking.
Speaker 1:Repentance, by the way, is just simply you're walking this way and you're like, uh--oh, I'm going the wrong way and you turn around. This is the Hebrew idea of repentance Turn around, you're going the wrong way. In Proverbs it says this Proverbs 19.10. Ignore that, ephesians, it's just a typo. The writer of Proverbs says hey, desire without knowledge is not good. How much more will hasty feet miss the way? This idea of missing the way, it's actually translated as sin many other times in the hebrew bible. So sin is this idea, this notion of missing the right way, walking the wrong way. And paul says you are following in step with the ways of the world. Trust when I say that the ways of the world, the world has all kinds of things it's trying to sell you Values, things that are important, lies, morals. And you and I tend to live in step with the ways of the world, the teachings of the world, the ideologies of the world, the lies of the world, like we're tied to the ways of the world.
Speaker 1:Paul calls it the spirit of the age, or this age, the ways of the world. Paul calls it the spirit of the age, or this age, the aion, the eon is what he calls it in the Greek. Like this age. Not like the age to come when God will restore all things, but right now, in this age, there's all kinds of things living contrary to the way of God and you guys have been tied to that. You're going the wrong way.
Speaker 1:He also says, like there's also these powers at work. So he calls them the powers of the spirits, of the air. He mentions the powers a lot in the book of Ephesians, meaning there are these demonic forces at work in the world. Now for Paul, he always links the spiritual with the material. So there are these forces at work and at play that impact and influence us every day. Maybe you can sense them if you're paying attention. Many folks can't, because it's sort of like this. It's like Paul says they're in the air. It's like they're like the air that we breathe and unknowingly we breathe this air and they influence how we think, our desires, the way that we live and decisions we make all the time. This is, by the way, what social media and commercials have always been designed to do Commercials going back to when commercials were invented. They're trying to get you to think a certain way, without noticing it, without knowing it.
Speaker 1:And so Paul says there are these demonic things at work in the world that will lure you and seduce you into going the wrong way. Don't be naive. Don't be naive by the way. He says the material is all, or the spiritual is always manifested in the material. Did I say that right? The spiritual is always manifested in the material.
Speaker 1:So when he talks about the powers in Ephesians 6, which we'll get to in a couple weeks these demonic forces that are at work in the world, they don't just lie dormant in the air, they become manifest in people and in systems and the way things are operating in the real world. So be careful of certain systems and how they operate. Right, like Nazi Germany, nazism Hitler's been dead a long time, but Nazism as a philosophy, it's still very much alive and well. So it was embodied in people, but it also transcends the people. Does that make sense? So be careful.
Speaker 1:Paul says You've been corrupted or lured by the powers of the air. You've been living in the ways of the world, the spirit of the age. And then he says this this is wild. He says you've been gratifying the desires of your flesh. In other words, you've been doing the things that just feel good. And he says all of us have been doing that.
Speaker 1:Now Paul's writing as a Jew to Gentiles, but he's trying to figure out how do we become a one body, one community of faith, a new creation with Jews and Gentiles, male and female, slave and free. And so he says hey, all of us have done this, we've all given ourselves over to the desires of our flesh. Just so you know, not every desire you have is from God. Just ask anybody who goes to AA. They'll tell you Just because you feel like you want to do it doesn't mean you should do it. I think we need to hear that today. I'm not trying to bang on anybody's good time, but not every desire of your flesh is from God. It takes discernment to know if you should do certain things. Talk to your friends, talk to your pastor, talk to your family, these kinds of things. Because here's the consequence when you go the wrong way, it always leads to death.
Speaker 1:So the greek word I'll go back to now, hamartia, by the way. Thanks, kelsey. I told kelsey this morning I go just buckle up because I don't know where I'm going to go this morning. I got notes, but we're going to bounce around a little bit. So hamartia is this greek word. It means sin. It's translated as you are dead in your sins. It also means it's like this idea of missing the mark. There's a mark, or missing the path, like a target. But it also can mean this Paul Young says hey, there's this Greek word, miros, which is the root word here, and miros is this idea.
Speaker 1:In fact, you see it in literature, where there are these characters. They're supposed to be heroes but they have this one character flaw that prevents them from living in their fullness of who they are as a character in literature. You see it in Greek literature and theater all the time. But miros means living in accordance with who you were designed to be, the fullness of who you are. So if you could close your eyes you don't do it, but if you could close your eyes and pretend who is the me at my fullest potential, imagine that person of who you are Now.
Speaker 1:The problem is many of you are like I don't know who I even am right now. Who am I? I don't know. It's a great question to ask, then. Who's the you that at your fullest, like most vibrant self, like centered in Christ, christ in you, like free to give and receive love? Who's that person? That's kind of like the ideal of who you're supposed to be and that's miros. Ha, miros means like the negation of that.
Speaker 1:So sin is anything that disallows you from being that, from being free to give and receive love, to forgive and ask for forgiveness, to live in harmony with your neighbors and your enemies and yourself and with God. This idea of like walking the right path, that's miros. It's the character in the in literature who, like, lives out their fullest potential, and sin negates that. It just chops that right out at the knees. So whenever we walk on paths of destruction and gratify our flesh, it undoes your potential and it keeps you from living the fullness of who you are. That's what hamartia and Paul says in that you were dead.
Speaker 1:That's act one. That was a large majority of it. Now are you ready for act two? Act two begins in verse four. I think I've got a slide of it. Now, are you ready for act two? Act two begins in verse four. I think I've got a slide for it. But God and, by the way, this is a big but I like big Bibles, bibles, this is church. Come on, I like big Bibles.
Speaker 1:I did not make that joke at the 8 30 either. I figured you'd give me some leeway on that one. But it's a big but, and I want you to remember this because even while you were wandering the wrong way, dead in your own sins and transgressions, unable to live out the fullness of who you were designed to be, even then and in fact most emphatically then, god, who is rich in mercy, quickly to act three, quickly to act three. He made you alive in Christ. And everyone said woo-hoo, come on, that wasn't very good. You've been made alive in Christ. Woo-hoo, that was a little better.
Speaker 1:Huh, this idea of God is rich in mercy. It's sort of like this loving, kindness, faithfulness, loyalty, refusal to give up. Paul unashamedly, unabashedly, wants you to know. God is full of this sheer, rich, almost unbelievable mercy and goodness and kindness. Now, before you say oh, ryan, you're being soft on sin, god's love just doesn't change anyone's heart. I get that. But I just told you for 10 minutes how you were dead in your sins. So make no mistake. Sin is destructive, at least to death, and it's horrible. But God, now, if you're an old school Lutheran, this is law and gospel right here. Yeah, you were dead, I don't know how else to say it. You were dead.
Speaker 1:But God Paul goes on to say hey, god is rich in mercy. He loved us with a great love. His sheer grace has saved us. His grace is rich beyond all telling. He lavished kindness upon us. Yes, god is good and loves you and came to rescue you, came to find you. He's come to help you because you're lost. You couldn't do it on your own. You're lost and you are dead, but in Christ he's come to save you and make you alive. And you're not alive.
Speaker 1:In the Hebrew mind, this is the word chesed. Everyone say chesed. Throughout the pages of the Old Testament, of the Hebrew Bible, again and again, this word is used to describe the essence of who God is. God is steadfast in love. He's not shaken, he's not surprised. I love when Pastor Lorraine was like. God isn't like shocked and surprised by what's going on in the world or what happens in you or when you made that decision or that choice. He's not a dummy, he's not shot. He's just steadfast in his love and his mercy and his goodness, his healing, his presence. It's faithful, it doesn't go away, even while you are sinning.
Speaker 1:Paul writes Christ comes and his chesed is put on display for you, this essence of who God is, this is the essence of God Chesed, loving kindness. And he's made us alive in Christ. Man, that's some good news, I'm just telling you. That means you don't have to live on that pathway forever. Though you were dead, you've been made alive again in Christ, and what is true of Christ is now true of you. So Jesus was dead and was resurrected. If you are in Christ, so are you In fact, baptism. So for Michael and for little Lenny, dead and now they're alive in Christ and they're seated in Christ at the right hand of the Father that means like the place of favor and the place of ruling. Somehow we are rulers with God, at the right hand of God in Christ, and here's how it happens. So, make no mistake, it's by grace.
Speaker 1:So, lenny Lou, if I can pick on her, she didn't do anything this morning to get herself here right. You all recognize that she didn't drive her own car, did she drive her own car? No, she's just sleeping. Oh so lazy? Come on, lenny Lou, get it together. Why don't you pray or something? Read your bible.
Speaker 1:My gosh, she's been a drain to her parents up until now, eating all their food, using up all their resources. I'm sure they're worried at night, staying awake trying to raise her and not let her die. You know this is what a drain she's been. She's done nothing, and neither have you to contribute to your own salvation. How could you? You were dead.
Speaker 1:Dead people can't raise themselves from the dead. They need someone who's conquered death, who's moved through death, to do that for them. You can't do it on your. I appreciate your help. That's very sweet of you, very cute. You can't do it though. You're lost, you're confused and you were dead. Jesus did it. You can't do it though. You're lost, you're confused and you were dead. Jesus did it. You cannot contribute in any way to your own salvation. Do you understand that?
Speaker 1:Paul says it this way we were saved by grace. Then he says we are being saved. On many other occasions in Pauline writing, and then he also says we will be saved. This is classic, paul, and I want you to hear this, because salvation is like this strange journey in and of itself that we're on together. Many of us think, oh, one time, when I was five, I said this prayer and that was it. And I get that. 24 years ago, on September 23rd, I signed a document that I was married to Katie Right. That was a long time ago and that's what made us married. But every day we're also married and we will be married. Paul says we were saved by grace in Christ Jesus saved us. I always quote this. But Karl Barth was once asked when were you saved? And Karl Barth said oh, in 33 AD. I love that. That's when you were saved.
Speaker 1:Also, we're being saved daily. We're being renewed by the Spirit, given a fresh mind, a new heart. Luther writes you don't need a soft heart, you need a brand new heart. Your heart is a stone heart. So things like baptism, confession, communion, community this is what brings us sort of in line and in tune and on the right path of God. We're being saved.
Speaker 1:And then for Paul eschatologically is a fancy $5 word Like when the age to come comes, we will be saved. God will restore, renew all things, anakephalosify, all things new again. It's this process, it's a journey we're all on. So we were saved, we're being saved and we will be saved and seated with Christ. So your job, then, is not to save yourself. Your job is to receive this chesed, this loving kindness, this grace and mercy, and share it with other people. So you haven't been saved by work, but you have been saved for good works. So we don't just sit around passively doing nothing. No, we go and help others who are also lost and need help. We take care of the poor and the sick. We do good works not to save ourselves, but in response to the loving kindness of God. It's a dance right. We sit at the meal, we share our food with others, we come to the table, we receive and we give, we live with open hands. So we're saved to do good works.
Speaker 1:Central Lutheran Church. May you know that you were dead in your transgressions. You were unable to live out the fullness of who you were designed to be because of this thing we call sin, and it had all kinds of things like the powers of the air and the spirits and the things that we got involved in us walking the wrong path. There's a million reasons why, but just know that we were dead and that's bad news. But God, but God, but God. Man, some of you need to just sit there for a minute. But God, but God was rich in mercy. If you know nothing else about God, know that he's rich in mercy and loving kindness and refuses to give up on you, even when you've given up on yourself. He's rich in mercy. He's come to find you and bring you home and make you alive in Christ. And now, central, go and share that with others. Amen.
