Strengthened by the Word

that God has made a promise with each of us, a promise sealed by the death and resurrection of Jesus, a promise that he will hold onto us at the terrible times as well as on the happy days.

That is the Good News we need to receive.

That is the Good News of which we need to be reminded regularly.

That is the Good News which we cannot manufacture ourselves; it comes as a gift from outside ourselves.

This gives us the basis for understanding our second lesson today.

Over the next six weeks as we read the initial chapters of 1 Corinthians, we will be hearing \about all sorts of messy problems in that church,

but here at the beginning of the letter we have the right kind of gentle and confident start.

I give thanks to God always for you, because of the grace of God that has been given to you in Christ Jesus, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will strengthen you to the end....

What points does Paul make in this gracious beginning of his letter?

1.No matter what, we can still give thanks to God.

--As youth and adults learn in catechetical study, almost every prayer that we utter properly begins and ends with praise.

--Very often when we hear of a hurricane or other disaster, the people of a church that has been destroyed gather at their wrecked building and have a service anyway.

--Psalm 22, which Jesus recites from the cross, begins in very human grumbling, but ends in a confident and hope-filled song of praise.

2.We give thanks because of what has already been given to us.

--The usual human response is to blame God when we meet up with trouble, and much of the rest of the time quite simply to ignore him.

--Over the years I have met people who have been bitterly angry with God.

All that can be done is to gently remind such a person that God continues to give good things to us, even including the freedom to complain to and about God!

--The most important thing that we can learn about “stewardship” is that all which we have is not ours, but is only given into our trust, for the good of all and the praise of God.

3.What we have already received from God is the truly important.

--What is our true treasure?

Bank accounts can be lost, businesses and jobs fail.

Families can be taken away by crisis or illness,

Wars and natural disasters can turn our little empires to rubble.

--From Siberia comes the story of how what is truly important will endure.

400 years ago the Czars invited German Lutherans to settle in Russia, especially the Ukraine.

Things were fine for a long time, but the Communists were determined to wipe out the church.

By 1939, the last church building had been taken over and the last pastor imprisoned or murdered.

The people were forcibly relocated to Siberia where many starved.

But when visiting the region was again permitted after 1990, more than 500 little congregations were discovered to be active in that remote land, without any buildings.

All of the visible things had been taken away.

All they had was the crucial part: they passed the promise of Jesus from person to person over generations of oppression and hardship.

--When I visited Erfurt in 1993, I heard something similar about old communist East Germany.

Our travel group was met by pastors and other folks from the local congregations.

Our leader introduced several old women.

“These are the people who kept the church alive during the dark years of oppression,” he said.

“When the pastors were muzzled by all the official rules, these women quietly taught the parish children at home.”

They were motivated by the word of God; the promise sustained them.

Now, of what have we been reminded by Paul?

1.No matter what, we can thank God.

2.We give thanks because of what has already been given to us.

3.What we have already received from God is what is truly important, a promise well-worth keeping.

What is our reaction to being reminded of all of these good things?

Often it is with grumbling and complaint, as we heard from Isiah in today's first lesson.

I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity....”

It is something like our attitude about the weather.

No matter what the weather is like we can complain about it: to sunny, too wet, too hot, too cold, too icy, too dry...complain, complain.

Whatever good things God gives us, we can find some reason for complaint.

And the complaints may seem to be justified:

--a class of basically good students who just will not pay attention to the teacher.

--the wonderful doctors and nurses who cannot discover a cure for our personal ailments,

--the financial worries that we have even in the middle of our riches.

But notice what the prophet says next.

Right after his complaints, he adds: ...yet surely my cause is with the Lord.

--Things are not fully right, yet God is somehow still in charge, and in the end our lives will come out as he intends.

How that can be possible, we cannot see.

One more step:

If we were in the place of God, we would likely be fed up with all of the complaining and say “Since you yammer so much, I will have nothing to do with you.”

We thank Giod that he is not like that!

He is persistent in dealing gently with us, despite our complaints.

In fact, he gives us even more responsibility when the time is right.

Isaiah and all of us since then, who think that our task is only to look after our little corner,

hear from Jesus an additional commission:

--to be a light to the nations, so that God's salvation may reach to the end of the earth.[Is.49:6]

Those who have lived through the Jan.1996 flood or the one several years ago locally will think of things differently when they hear of a flood in Guatemala or some other place.

Those parents and students who met with Pastor Dietrich at the retreat last week will think about things differently after hearing him speak about his experiences as a missionary in Senegal, West Africa.

Let's put it together now:

Paul and Isaiah urge us to give thanks to God, no matter what, even in the midst of complaints, so that we can be encouraged that God will be persistent in giving us resources and also in setting before us opportunities to use them.

His promise is sure.

Our families, our community, and the whole world need what we have to share.

Give thanks, be encouraged, and get going! Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.