Everlasting Extras: A Christian Primer on Anger

Sermon: Glorified (John 17:1-11)

Sermon 7th Sunday of Easter

June 5th, 2011

John 17:1‐11

“Glorified”

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ever since Dr. Luther wrote the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518. Lutherans have shied away from glory talk. And for good reason, in this writing Luther distinguishes between theologians of glory (bad) and theologians of the cross (good). The theologians of glory look to be glorified by the Heavenly Father through their works without the cross. The number 1 theologian of glory was Satan when he offered to give Jesus the world without the cross. And still the followers of Satan today preach a Christless prosperity gospel that is predicated on your prayers, your positive thinking, your choices and your works.

However for as much as Lutherans put a caution around “glory talk” we find it throughout our liturgy, in the Gloria Patri that we find at the end of a psalm or our in our hymn of praise the Gloria in Excelsis, these are fine examples of giving God the glory or right praise. Another word for it is orthodoxy. The Greek word for glory is doxology. We have all sung the doxology prior to a meal. In it we acknowledge that all blessings come from God, we exhort all creatures below on earth and all creatures above, the heavenly hosts to praise Him and together we praise His revealed Name, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Our place in glorifying God is one of recipient. We receive all good things from God especially that which we receive from Jesus Christ. We receive our lives from Him as His creatures and we receive His saving Name that delivers from the power of sin, death and the devil. If there is any giving on our part it is in the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise which is given by the priesthood of believers by the power of the Holy Spirit but this is a result of receiving God’s gifts.

In our text today, Jesus high priestly prayer that He prays to the Father contains lots of “glory talk.” He asks the Father to glorify the Son in order that He, the Son, may glorify the Father. Jesus prays that on earth, He has already glorified the Father. Jesus then also requests to be glorified in the presence of the Father as He was before the world existed. Finally, Jesus prays that He is glorified in those that the Father has given to Him.

Unlike our place as recipient, God’s place is that of giver. The Father is giving, the Son is giving and in this way they glorify each other. Jesus could hardly be accused of being a theologian of glory because Jesus embraces the cross. The context in which He is to be glorified is in the hour that he would be betrayed by Judas to the chief priests who would
put Him to death. Jesus is to be glorified on the cross where He the Lamb of God is sacrificed for the sins of the World. The result is the gift of eternal life for all who know of this act of redemption by the Father and the Son. Jesus is giving His life for the World for you and the Father is giving His Son as a sacrifice to the World for you and in this act of giving the Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son.

This saving knowledge or revelation was given by Jesus as he taught and preached. Jesus revealed the Father’s Word and will and in this way the Father was glorified. Outside of Jesus and His Word we do not and cannot know God. Without the revealed Word, God is either a malicious being who allows all sorts of evil through natural disaster or He is
too weak to do anything about or He is simply disinterested. This is what natural man comes up with based on what He sees in nature.




Missouri Governor Jay Nixon
after the Joplin tornado

 

Sadly to prove my point I was listening to the governor of Missouri Jay Nixon as he was being interviewed on national television by a reporter regarding the tornado disaster in Joplin. In the interview when asked about the support he expected to get from the federal government and other agencies, Gov. Nixon said, when “God does these things then
we need to do our part in cleaning it up.” Yes, you heard it. God is the bad guy and it is our job to clean up his messes. Why would you ever want to pray or call out to God for help if this is your view of Him?

Rather Christ the Son reveals Him to us as Father, a Father who gives us are lives and still sustains them. And He gives us His Son sacrificed for the sins man in the world. Sinful and selfish mankind is the real cause of natural disasters, diseases and the problems we face. In the Word, it is revealed to us that God is behind the rescue and relief workers and the
government agencies that will provide support. He will be working through various congregations and pastors to provide spiritual and bodily support. These disasters provide an opportunity for both giving and sharing the gospel. The Father has given us the Son and through His teaching on earth and the preparation of the Apostles Jesus has glorified the Father. Jesus in His High Priestly prayer next asks the Father to be glorified in the presence of the Father as He was before the world existed. In this request we can see that Jesus the Man clearly understands that He is God. Anyone who claims that Jesus did not know or understand His divinity denies this verse. Jesus, the begotten Son, existed with the Father before the world existed and in that state, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit glorify each other.

Jesus in the upper room in the context of the Passover was teaching His disciples that He was preparing to leave them at least twice; once for a little while as He would suffer and die on the cross for their sins, your sins and the sins of the world, and secondly in order to be glorified by being given by the Father all authority over Heaven and Earth and to prepare a place for His disciples in Heaven.

Last Thursday was the feast of the Ascension where we celebrate our Lord taking His place at the right hand of God from where He has the power to be bodily with every congregation as they celebrate the New Testament Passover, the Lord’s Supper and from where He sends the Holy Spirit to build up and sustain the Church. Jesus being placed in this seat of power enables Him to keep His promise to be with His church always even unto the end of the World. The glorification of Christ at the right hand of God enables Him to give of Himself all the more to you and to His church. He does this through the office of the ministry which He gave to the church in His ascension. The Holy Ministry is a continuation of His mission on Earth; baptizing, teaching, preaching, forgiving, healing and eating the Holy meal, proclaiming His redeeming death until He returns.

St. Paul writes in the 4th Chapter to the Ephesians starting with verse 10, He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:10‐16)

Jesus in His glorified state at the right hand of God is still giving of Himself for the sake of the church. Finally Jesus prays that He is glorified in those the Father has given to Him. Jesus here is not praying for the World He is praying for the elect, those that God has given to Him from the beginning of time. How do we know if we are elect? The elect are those who are baptized, confess and abide in His Word. The elect trust in the promises given in the Word and Sacraments. You Christian are elect not by your own reason or strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit given to you in Holy Baptism.

Judas Iscariot , even though He was counted as one of the twelve, was not elect. He in time relied on His own reason and strength and not on Jesus. Judas, after seeing what he had done in betraying Jesus was wrong in the sight of God, tried to redeem His own actions by trying to return the blood money, and by giving his life by hanging himself on a tree. This did not work. We cannot redeem ourselves. We cannot justify ourselves. We cannot glorify ourselves. Only Christ can do that for you and I and in Him and only in Him are we elect.

Sadly, there are far too many like Judas both in the church and in the World. Yes it is possible to be in and around the church and still not trust in Christ for your salvation. They are the hypocrites. And there are much more outside the 3 church because they know nothing else but to rely on themselves as they ponder their status before God. Unless these people are brought to repentance by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel and the reception of the sacraments, they will be as lost as Judas.

Jesus taught in the upper room that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one, that is absolutely no one comes to the Father except through Him. This is one of those absolute exclusive statements that the World does not want to hear.

The World reasons, isn’t God bigger than that; certainly he would provide multiple paths to attain heaven; look at all the different religions of the world. Or, how can it be fair that God would punish someone who grew up in a non

These reasons deny the depravity of man. The world religions that have evolved have done so out of the perversion and denial of the true religion. The fact that Christianity does not exist in some countries and tribes is because of deprived man’s persecution of Christians. The children will suffer at the hands of their father. This is a just fate. But our Lord through His church continues to reach out since it is revealed in His Word that He desires that not one sinner would perish.

The Father gives to the Son His elect and therefore there is no decision theology. If the Father elects us in Christ how can we claim or as some churches teach that our salvation is based on a choice or decision we make? Rationally we cannot. Election by God and decision by us regarding our salvation are mutually exclusive. We are given to Christ, we do not choose to join up and in this way the Father and Son are glorified.

How then is Jesus glorified in those whom the Father is given Him? It is in the confession of the true faith by the elect. It is in suffering for that true confession as our epistle from 1

 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1‐6)

Christ is glorified when His Truth is preached among us for in that Truth we are unified. Yes besides glory Jesus prays for unity which when He is rightly glorified will occur. This unity is not as the world sees it such “reconciled diversity” or “agreeing to disagree.” This is not unity at all in fact these are irrational oxymorons. No, Jesus is speaking of unity in doctrine, in the truth we teach. Jesus glorified the Father by teaching His Word not something else.

As the Apostle Paul teaches earlier in Ephesians 4,  I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1‐6)

Paul teaches here that there are not multiple faith teachings but one, there are not multiple teachings on baptism but one, and there are not multiple teachings about God but only one.

There is one faith the true faith given to us in the apostolic teachings. The church does not maintain different teachings on baptism. There is one teaching, that it is water with the word, that the Holy Spirit is given through it, that the forgiveness of sins is given through it, that we are given the promise of resurrection through it, that the promise is for children too, that it is regenerative, that we receive Christ’s robe of righteousness through it and that through it we inherit Christ’s kingdom and we are saved. Anyone who teaches other than this one baptism teaches falsely. Anyone who denies baptism to infants teaches and practices falsely and Christ is not glorified in him.

And there is only one true God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the name of God the Son has revealed to us and given to us in baptism, not Jehova, not Allah none of these names save. And to say as a Christian that there are other paths to salvation is a denial of our creed, our one faith and Christ is not glorified.

But here at Trinity Lutheran Church in Whittier, CA He is, as we are about, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes in the Lord Supper. Christ is glorified by the Father as He gives to us the fruit of the cross, the very Body and Blood of His Son for the life of the World for your life for your body’s resurrection.

We have been called, gathered and enlightened by the Holy Spirit this morning as we have heard the Gospel preached to us, unifying us in truth in preparation to receive the Holy Supper.

Perhaps you have noticed how this divine service follows the liturgical pattern of Jesus. The Passover meal included teaching that proceeded eating and prayers before, during and after. Hymns were also sung. Following in our Lord’s steps this is our pattern as well. Jesus prayed for unity and the early church mirrored this prayer in a Eucharistic prayer found in 1st century document called the Didache.

“We give Thee thanks, O our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou didst make known unto us through Thy Son Jesus; Thine is the glory for ever and ever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and being gathered together became one, so may Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom;” (Didache)

We hear in this prayer similar petitions to what Jesus prays in His High Priestly prayer given at the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Giving thanks for the life and knowledge, acknowledges what Jesus prays in his petition when he says, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. And acknowledging in the prayer “and being gathered together became one” answers Jesus prayer for unity as He and His disciples are gathered around the table of the Holy Supper.

I invite you to listen closely to the prayers of the liturgy of the sacrament of the Altar. Listen to how it reflects and acknowledges what Jesus prayed for and listen as the both the ancient hymns such as the Agnus Dei “Lamb of God” and the Sanctus “Holy, Holy, Holy” and the newer hymns glorify God by proclaiming death and resurrection of Christ the truth of the real presence of Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Glory alone be to Father, Son and Holy Spirit Amen

Mercy

Beloved in the Lord, it is with great joy that I can report that the stem cell transplant was successful!  Our Lord has heard my cry and yours for mercy. Still there are weeks of recovery ahead of me. The disease has left its marks and some may be permanent. First of all, I am still being treated for a blood clot. Second, the high dose of chemo has left my gastro-intestinal in shambles. I am on anti-nausea medicine to help me keep food down. I also have sores in my mouth and on my tongue. It will be weeks before these organs are healed. Thirdly, twelve hours of my week will dedicated to dialysis because of my renal failure.  And, I am still battling low pressure (hypotension). Despite these challenges, I am fortunate to be alive for my family.

 

One encouragement that I did receive from the UCLA medical staff is that they are looking to refer me to a kidney doctor that specializes in kidney transplants. I can only interpret that to mean that they believe the disease is arrested.    

 

I am at the moment writing to you from the Tiverton House. It is about two blocks from UCLA hospital just off the campus.  It has been a great place to rest and I can stay somewhat isolated since I am still immune suppressed.  I see the doctor today (April 15^th) and hopefully he will release me to go home to Whittier. Once again I am grateful for Nancy, Ryan and my parents, who will be returning to Ft. Wayne, IN next week.  I am also grateful to the Lord for all of you who offer your support and prayers. Prayers are being answered for mercy, that our Lord so lovingly grants.

Lenten Journey

Remember your word to your servant,

  in which you have made me hope.

This is my comfort in my affliction,

  that your promise gives me life.

(Psalm 119:49-50)

 

This week, along with all of you, my Lenten Journey begins in a very concrete fashion.  Nancy and I received the good news that my much needed stem cell transplant has been approved by the insurance company and the medical team at UCLA.  I also signed the consents and we now have a schedule. It has been a small battle staying healthy and out of the hospital but I am grateful for the Lord’s mercy in being at home for over a week.

 

I find in the schedule signs of our Lord’s assurance that He is with me.  Today, the day after Ash Wednesday, I have begun to receive Neupogen injections which stimulate stem cell production in the bone marrow. Stems cells can mature into platelets, red or white blood cells. They also can divide to form more stem cells.  The Neupogen injections will also cause these extra stem cells to be released from the bone marrow into the blood stream.  The week of March 13, beginning on Monday, is when Nancy and I will travel daily to UCLA in order for stem cells to be collected from my blood. This is far less painful then extracting them from the bone marrow. 

 

On Monday, March 21, I am scheduled to be admitted to UCLA Hospital where I will receive a very high dose of Melphalan, a chemotherapy drug, that will have the effect of killing all the cells in my bone marrow.  My bone marrow will literally die. It will be unable to produce any blood products.  This Melphalan does not distinguish between good and bad cells, so in order to get the bad the good has to killed too.  Obviously this puts me at risk since the immune system in my body will be compromised entirely. It also means that I will need to depend on transfusions for blood.  The 21^st will be my “Good Friday” for, in order to live, I must die.

 

Tuesday March 22, is a “day of rest” a Sabbath if you will. It reminds me of Holy Saturday where are Lord rested in the tomb. Yes, on the schedule UCLA calls it a “day of rest.” However on Wednesday, March 23^rd they reintroduce the stem cells that were collected the week prior. This is considered day zero. It is considered the day of rebirth.  It will be another eight days before there are signs that the stems cells have engrafted to the bone marrow and have begun producing blood.  The significance of eight days is not lost upon me.  The eighth day was the day of circumcision.  It is also, in our “last days,” considered the day of resurrection, since, in seven days the Lord created the earth, the eighth day is the day where the creation is reborn.  Many orthodox churches are eight-sided, and so are Christian baptismal fonts.

 

The time between the 21^st and the 31^st of March will be a critical time for me. Your prayers during this time will be warmly welcomed. If everything works according to plan, I may be released from the hospital the week of April 3^rd and then moved to a hotel near the UCLA campus called the Tiverton House in order to continue my recovery for another two weeks.

 

These signs in the schedule speak to me as I enter into my Lenten journey with my Lord.  This whole process could have begun in Epiphany but it has started immediately in Lent.  I see our Lord’s promises in these signs that come from the Lord and it does give me comfort in my affliction. I have the promise in my baptism that I have been crucified, buried and raised with Christ. Regardless of the outcome, that promise cannot be taken away.   

Shared Suffering, Shared Comfort

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.  (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

It is amazing to me that St. Paul can say these things in His letter to the congregation in Corinth or to any congregation for that matter.   It defies worldly logic and wisdom to find comfort in the midst of affliction. But this is not worldly wisdom that St. Paul uses but the revealed will of God.   Faith is speaking through Paul.  We as Christians see our sufferings and those of others as the sharing in Christ’s sufferings.   In his life, Jesus was afflicted.  He was threatened with death many times and ultimately He endured the physical trial of the passion and the cross.  Yet Christ knew that He would be delivered from death, even defeat it and the consequences of sin, not only for Himself but for all.  We have a share in the comfort Christ received.  “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

St. Paul goes on in his letter to share the tribulation of the cross He and his fellow servants of the Word experienced in Asia.   “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.  For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.  But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.  He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

This week tribulation found me as I awoke early Sunday morning with shortness of breath.  I was unable to catch my breath, and after several hours of laboring I finally woke Nancy and had her take me to the emergency room where I was then admitted to the critical care unit.  It took about nine hours after dialysis before I began to experience relief.  The doctors found a couple small blood clots in my lungs that they believed traveled from  a larger clot in my left leg.   These will be managed with blood thinners.  They decided to install a filter in my vein in order to prevent further clots from entering my lungs.  For good measure, they also put me back on IV antibiotics.  It appears, though, that it was fluid build-up in my lungs that was the main culprit.  I was happy to be released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, in time to  attend an important meeting with the stem cell coordinator at UCLA on Friday. 

The Lord once again has delivered me from deadly peril.  Not just temporally, but through baptism as I have a share in Christ’s affliction and therefore have a share in the comfort of the resurrection.  And so do you! Therefore we can pray with Christ and the Psalmist.

"I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.

Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: 'O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!'  

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.

The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.

Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." (Ps 116:1-9)

White Washed Tombs

Once again, I am writing from this letter from the hospital. The up-and-down roller coaster ride of my condition continues. Saturday I went in for my regular dialysis.  After 1 ½  hours of dialysis my blood  pressure dropped to 75/53.  They stopped removing fluid and continued the dialysis filtering, but my top number could not get above the 80’s.  So they called 911, and I took my very first ambulance ride to the nearest ER.  It seems pretty easy these days for me to get admitted, not just to a room, but to the ICU. I am a fast tracker. I am getting very familiar with all the hook ups.  The IVs, the blood pressure cuffs, and the finger oxygen measurer.  I can attach my own telemetry now.  I actually know what color attaches to each terminal on my chest.  I have to remember that is not my vocation and I need to let the nurses do their jobs.   At night it’s like sleeping in a box of cables.

 

Many people have commented how good I look.  That is, relatively speaking.   What I mean is that I look healthier on the outside than most people who are in the ER.  I look healthier and act healthier than most people in the ICU.  But when you look at the numbers (the blood counts and tests such as the release of troponins that indicate possible cardiac muscle damage and low platelett counts) the inside view is very different.  I can’t help but think of Jesus speaking to the spiritually dead as “white washed tombs.”  Beautiful on the outside but dead or dying on the inside.  As the ER doctor said to me,  “You look good but you are one sick man.”  Well, doctors are brutally honest and I am glad they are.   I think pastors need to be as well.   We need to be reminded of the seriousness of our sin by the law in God’s word  in order to repent and cling to Christ.  This properly prepares us to hear the Gospel.  Christ forgives and gives to us His life.  The baptismal life is one of repentance and forgiveness, of dying  to sin and rising with Christ.   When the ER doctor found out I was a pastor by vocation, he confessed that he did not know how people without Christ could face what I am facing.  The truth is they have to, but it has no meaning or purpose and will more than likely cause them to be embittered toward God.  Before the ER doctor sent me to the ICU, he and two nurses prayed for my healing.  I also prayed for them and thanked our Lord for serving me through them, not only through prayer, but in the very competent execution of their vocations.   Thanks again for your continued prayers.

Valentines

This week we observed the commemoration martyr St. Valentine.  The commemoration of the death of this physician and priest, which occurred in 270 AD, became an early addition the calendar of the Western Church.  Tradition suggests that on the day of his execution for his Christian faith, Valentine left a note of encouragement for a child of  his jailer on a irregularly shaped piece of paper. This greeting became a pattern for millions of written expressions of love and caring that now are the highlight of Valentines day in many nations.  

This week I reflect on the many valentines I have received over the course of my treatment.  They have come in the form of letters of encouragement, cards filled with our Lord's promises from members of previous congregations who I have known, from Indiana, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, Kansas and from California.  They have also come in the form of emails and face book messages. And, they have come in irregular forms expressions of love and caring written on a giant card from the congregation of Fairlawn Lutheran, in Ohio and on a quilt from my beloved Trinity congregation some have come without words in the form of prayer shawls. From the children of Trinity School I have received many misshapen hand made, and hand written expressions of love and care with verses of scripture, God's promises attached. For this I give thanks to the Lord. I am the recipient of the love and care of our Lord through the communion of saints.  We all share in each other's burdens we rejoice together in Lord's promises. In Christ, we have have this common fellowship of love, caring and mercy. 

At this time, I am still waiting. I am finishing my third round of chemotherapy. The doctors say that it will be another three weeks before I start my next stage of treatment at UCLA.  We are taken precautions so that I remain relatively healthy. I am still struggling with maintaining my blood pressure. I am struggling with not knowing day to day how I will feel.  The three weeks seems like an eternity in some respects. So I still covet your expressions of love and caring reminding me of our Lord's promises as I wait for my deliverance from this disease.