Return to the Homepage Home
 Worship Schedules, Education, Fellowship, Outreach Worship & Service
 Sermon Archive Sermons
 A copy of the Sunday Prayers of Intercession Prayers
 Pastor Lynne's monthly newsletter Pastor's Page
 Articles and tidbits from the monthly newsletter Newsletter
 This month's events as well as the monthly calendar Current Events
 Read the Sunday School News Letter! Sunday School News
 Events for grades 7 to 12 Youth
 Other websites of interest Links
  
 Login to Administer this site Admin Login

St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church
2903 McPhillips Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
CANADA R2P 0H3
http://www.stlukeszion.ca

Phone: (204) 339-0412
Fax: (204) 339-0412
E-mail: stlukeszionchurch@gmail.com
site design by clayton rumley

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter
Sunday, May 21st, 2017

click here for past entries

Loving God, you call us to yourself by the power of your Spirit, giving gifts of faith and hope and love.  Teach us to trust in you for all things and to live to the praise of your glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Those of you who are astute may have noticed that this week we are hearing about some of the same things as last week.  Last week it was the Council at Jerusalem that was front and center, which addressed the question of whether Gentiles had to be circumcised and become Jewish in order to belong to Jesus.  We also heard from Peter that everybody, whether Jew or Gentile, is saved by grace through faith.

    This week, we hear about some of the same things, except from Paul’s perspective.  You may have noticed that there is still a group called the “circumcision faction” that shows up in Antioch, and that advocates following all of the Jewish laws (Gal. 2:12).  However, today we hear Paul writing about some of these things based on his own experience.

    We hear a little bit about Paul’s history - how he grew up as an observant Jew and was far more serious about his religion than many others of the same age.  In fact, we hear that Paul was so zealous for the traditions of his ancestors that he violently persecuted those who believed in Jesus and tried to stop them (Gal. 1:13-14).

    However, all of that changed when Paul encountered the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Even though Paul had thought that he was being faithful to God by persecuting followers of Jesus, Paul discovers that he was actually working against God.  From that time forward, Paul realizes his own sinfulness, and knows that it is only by God’s grace that he has been saved through Jesus.

    This is at least part of the reason why Paul feels so strongly that Gentiles who come to believe in Jesus should not be compelled to be circumcised and to follow the Jewish law.  Paul knows that, at least in his case, all of his efforts in that department did nothing to save him.  Rather, it was God acting in grace and mercy and revealing Jesus to him that allowed Paul to believe in Jesus and to inherit the hope of eternal life.

    Today, however, I’m not sure a lot of people ask the question as to whether we are put right with God through faith or through works of the law.  Some people, though, do ask the question of who belongs to Jesus.  Who is in, and who is out?  Who will go to heaven in the end?

    Some Christian groups have come up with some fairly obvious signs as to who belongs and who does not.  In some cases, you can tell by how they’re dressed - for those who belong all dress alike.  In other cases, you can tell by who has had the proper kind of baptism, or who can speak in tongues, or who comes to church the most often.  In other cases, if you’re married and have lots of children and behave correctly, you belong.  In still other cases, you can tell by who can quote the Bible most readily, or who gives the most money, or who volunteers the most time.  Many of us find faith to be a rather nebulous thing to define, so we like to come up with some far more obvious signs of who belongs and who doesn’t.  

    In God’s case, however, who belongs is defined more by what is in the heart than by any outward signs.  As Peter said in last week’s reading, those first Gentile believers had their hearts cleansed by faith, as God poured out the Holy Spirit on them as God’s own sign of approval (Acts 15:8-9).  And Paul talks about Christ living within him (Gal. 2:20).  In other words, his heart belongs to Christ.

    The Bible is full of passages that talk about the heart, and especially the relationship between the heart and outward appearances.  Way back in 1 Samuel, we are reminded that human beings look at outward appearances, but God looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).  Jesus also has a fair bit to say about the heart.  He talks about how good trees produce good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit, and how “it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks” (Lk. 6:43-45).

    And so, what is in our hearts does come out.  However, you can’t always tell what is in somebody’s heart by how they are dressed or how they look or even where they hang out.  Just as Jesus did not judge by appearances, we are not to judge by appearances, for God looks at the heart.

    As far as faith goes, though, it seems that sometimes we are not so sure what it actually means to believe in Jesus Christ.  Some people, when they talk about believing, actually mean that they know about Jesus.  So they believe that he lived and that he was crucified and that he healed people and maybe performed some miracles.  Others, when they talk about believing, mean that intellectually they agree that Jesus is the Son of God, and was crucified, died and rose again, and that he ascended into heaven.  And so, for them believing means being able to say “yes” to the things that are in the Creed.

    However, the kind of faith that Paul writes about means actually trusting in Jesus.  This is what he means when he talks about living “by faith in the Son of God” (Gal. 2:20).  And so, every decision that he makes, and how he acts, and even the joy and peace that he experiences in the midst of persecution, all come out of trusting Jesus.  He believes that Jesus is with him by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He believes that he belongs to Jesus both in this life and the next.  He believes that God will provide all that is needed because he is living for Jesus.  This is what it means to live by faith.

    “The life I now live in the flesh,” says Paul, “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).  This is how Paul knows that he belongs, and this is how we know that we belong - by faith in Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us.  And this same faith will bear fruit, by the power of the Spirit - fruit like love and joy and peace and patience and generosity and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Easter 6 (NL 3)                            Galatians 1:13-17; 2:11-21
May 21, 2017
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2017 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved


Previous Sermons
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
January 2003
March 0201