Sermon 1-14-24

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Based on the Second Lesson for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, 1Corinthians 6:9-20

Epiphany And Straight Talk

For the four Sundays prior to Christmas we were in Advent. That’s the season of repentance, fasting and preparation for both the Lord’s Incarnation (Christmas) and the Lord’s return — His Second Coming.

Then for twelve days we celebrated the miracle of the Incarnation. Yahweh, the Son, in union with the Father and Holy Spirit is the Creator of the universe and all that exists. Yet, Yahweh, the Son, not only took on human flesh through His mother, Mary, He took on mortal human flesh — human flesh doomed by sin to die. So, the Creator of the universe took on the human body He had created for His human creatures and became human.

How can such a thing be? A creature can never be its own creator. And a creator can never be the creature he has created. But, as the angel Gabriel told Mary of Nazareth in Luke 1:37, “‘. . . nothing is impossible with God.’” That’s how such a thing can be. We call it the mystery of the Incarnation of the Messiah — God in mortal human flesh. A mystery is something that should not be, yet is. Therefore, the twelve days of Christmas are days of awe, marvel and rejoicing at what God can do.

Now, the Creator of the universe hid Himself in the form of a human infant born to ordinary working people in a particular time and place. However, while the Creator of the universe hid Himself in flesh, He didn’t intend to remain hidden. He would make Himself known for who He is. Yet, the Creator would submit Himself to all things human. He would submit Himself to human culture, law and governance. Not until His resurrection from the dead in an immortal human body would the Creator take up His authority and reign. It was this submission that created a dilemma for every human who has and ever will interact with Jesus of Nazareth. Was this mortal man truly Yahweh, the Son?

To help us solve this mystery, Yahweh surrounded the incarnate Yahweh, the Son, with unusual happenings even from conception. On the night of Jesus’ birth, shepherds outside the little Judean city of Bethlehem encountered alien beings — angels. These angels came out of nowhere and went back into nowhere, but not before leaving an important message. Luke 2:11-12,  “11 ‘Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’” So, the babe was revealed to ordinary working folk as the long prophesied and expected Messiah.

Next, a short time after Jesus’ birth, prestigious scholars from the lands to the east showed up in Jerusalem looking for the Messiah. They said in Matthew 2:2, “. . . ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’” Everyone in Jerusalem seemed to be perplexed about what star the scholars were following. Yet, these scholars from the East knew what they were looking for in the night sky. And this tells us something.

We read in Psalm 19:1-4, “1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Apparently, there are messages in the stars if you know what your looking for. And these messages can be read in every human language. The scholars from the East had deciphered the message in the stars that was available to all humanity. The Messiah had been born.

The Apostle John tells us in Revelation 12:1-3, “1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.” Using this information, additional astrological information and an astronomical computer program, it’s now possible to guess at Jesus’ birth date. One scholar recently pegged it at September 11th, 3B.C. All this needs much more explaining than we have time for this morning. Suffice it to say, that Yahweh, the Son, hidden in human flesh, did not wish to remain hidden, even in infancy. A message in the stars was available to those who knew what they were looking for.

Now, while the working people of this world — represented by the shepherds — were receptive to Messiah, the elite of this world — represented by King Herod — were not. He tried to kill the newborn King of the Jews. And this division surrounded Jesus of Nazareth throughout His ministry and was the cause of His death. The very same division remains down to our own time. The elites scoff. They teach even the humble folk to do the same.

In life, Jesus hid Himself as an ordinary Galilean citizen — a day laborer — until He was approximately 30 years old. Then, all of a sudden, Jesus’ distant cousin, John, son of Zechariah, appeared as a prophet and preacher along the shores of the Jordan River. He became known as John the Baptist. For He preached a Jewish purification process involving a water bath. And the purpose of the purification was to prepare Israel for the long awaited Messiah.

As we see in modern times a person, a group, a place or experience can become enormously popular throughout the culture. Everyone wants to experience it. The same has been true in religious history. John the Baptist was one of those people who came out of nowhere to be recognized and acclaimed by thousands. Those who listened to his preaching and underwent his baptism were changed in their perception of life. This was God’s doing.

As we read last week in Mark 1:4-5, “4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” It seems that John was an ascetic. For we read in Mark 1:6, “John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.”

The really important part of John’s ministry was what he prophesied concerning what was about to happen in the immediate future. As we read in Mark 1:7-8, “7 And this was his message: ‘After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” With these words John proclaimed himself to be no more than an ordinary human prophet of Yahweh. Only Yahweh Himself can baptize a human being with Yahweh, the Holy Spirit. Therefore, John was unequivocally prophesying that this one coming after him would have to be Yahweh. But, as we know, this would not be without controversy. For, can Yahweh, the Creator God, come to earth as one of His creatures? There’s that question again. Is anything impossible for God?

The answer to that question took on tremendous importance when Jesus finally showed up in John’s camp seeking to be baptized. John knew the message he had been preaching. Therefore, we read in Matthew 3:13-15, “13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ 15 Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then John consented.” John wanted what he had been waiting for, the righteousness of God in the power of Yahweh, the Holy Spirit. But Jesus said, “not yet.” And unfortunately, John didn’t live to see the baptism with the Holy Spirit. He was persecuted and put to death by one of those elites — another member of the Herod family.

Nevertheless, the baptism of Jesus is an enormously important event. The voice of Yahweh, the Father, was heard publicly declaring in Mark 1:11, “. . . ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” And Yahweh, the Holy Spirit, descended upon Yahweh, the Son, like a dove. It was Messiah Jesus’ public revelation to Israel. As we mentioned in the sermon for the fourth Sunday in Advent, the early church established January 6th as a day to celebrate both the revelation of Jesus through His birth and His baptism. It’s the feast of the Epiphany — a Greek word meaning revelation. As we saw, it was only after the controversies over the relationship between Jesus’ divine nature and His human nature in the 300’s that the church started to celebrate the Incarnation of the Lord by itself on December 25th and left the Epiphany on January 6th. That’s why in some traditions Epiphany is called Little Christmas.

As we saw in this morning’s Gospel lesson, one of Jesus’ earliest disciples, Philip, somehow knew that Jesus was in fact the prophet Moses wrote about in Deuteronomy. This is Moses speaking in Deuteronomy 18:17-19, “17 ‘The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.”’” How Philip knew is a subject for another time.

But, then there was Nathaniel. Jesus could tell you stuff about yourself that only you would know. But He was no psychic. For, I’ve never heard of a psychic who made a promise like Jesus promised Nathaniel in John 1:51, “. . . ‘I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’” As we go forward in the Epiphany season, the Gospel texts will proclaim the initial preaching and miracles by which Jesus announced Himself as Messiah.

But, it’s this morning’s second lesson that I want to look at with you. I find it rather curious that this subject is placed in the Epiphany season. But here it is. I’m going to start a little ahead of today’s lesson so we can get a little more context.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

The wicked are godless people who worship themselves as their own gods. They have an idol. That idol is themselves. They are their own god because they determine good and evil for themselves. Thus, their good is usually evil for others. The sexually immoral usually seduce others into their behavior. They are dooming others before Yahweh just as they are doomed, because human sexuality is not our thing. It’s our Creator’s creation and is meant to operate according to His rules and purposes.

Seducing and being seduced — this applies not only to sexuality, but to all of human behavior. Most everyone who is in prison got there because they were seduced into evil behavior by others. What you see on the streets as normal becomes normal — only it’s not.

However, life doesn’t have to be abnormal for anyone. There is a normality that comes from Yahweh Himself. It’s called righteousness. In Messiah Jesus, Yahweh freely gives the normality of His righteousness to all who want it — all who are sick and tired of the self-destructive evil they’ve been living. As Paul told us, there were some in the Corinthian church who had come out of the most destructive kinds of living that the pagan lifestyle produces. The healing power of Yahweh’s forgiveness of sins had brought them to their right minds and had made Yahweh’s righteousness most attractive and doable.

Nevertheless, none of us are free of sin’s power in this life. Temptation to go back to old ways is always there. And a false interpretation of Christian theology can be used to justify old behavior. It’s this false interpretation that Paul goes on to oppose in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “‘Everything is permissible for me’ — but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible for me’ — but I will not be mastered by anything.”

In Messiah Jesus, we’re free from the ceremonial prescriptions of the Law God gave Moses. Many things are permissible to us. This is because the way to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind has changed from observing dietary laws, for instance, into following Messiah Jesus. However, following Jesus, we’re not free from the moral restrictions and guidance to be found not only in the Law of Moses but also in the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles. For when Paul talks about being mastered by something, he’s talking about being mastered by sin. Those in Messiah will be resurrected into complete mastery over sin. However, in this life only the power of Yahweh’s Holy Spirit can master the sinful nature within us. And through that power, Paul declared that sin would not master him. All who are in Jesus share in that same victory.

We see Paul develop this theme further in the following verses. First, 1 Corinthians 6:13, “‘Food for the stomach and the stomach for food’ — but God will destroy them both.” In other words, Christian believers have no dietary restrictions. However, both our bodies and the food we eat will be destroyed by death and by Yahweh’s final Judgment of this earth. We have freedom concerning food because ultimately food doesn’t matter.

But then Paul goes on to talk about things that do matter. 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, “13. . . The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?” As we well know, these human bodies conceived in Original Sin are doomed to die. Christians, therefore, put no hope in these bodies. Rather, we put our hope in the resurrection bodies we’re going to receive for eternity. Jesus was the first to receive a resurrected, immortal body. Therefore, the eyewitness testimony of those who saw and interacted with Jesus in His resurrected body is the assurance that we will receive what Jesus received. It’s for this reason, that Paul declares we are intimately connected with Jesus.

Jesus bought our sinful bodies with His sacrifice on the cross. Therefore, even these sinful bodies belong to Him. And, our resurrected bodies certainly belong to Him.

So, Paul goes on to instruct us concerning the implications of this great truth. 1 Corinthians 6:15-20, “15. . . Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two will become one flesh.’  17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

Now, what the world teaches all people is that we’re our own. This false teaching is especially thrilling to all young people newly freed from parental control and those still younger trying to sneak around parental control. It’s even thrilling to the elderly still able to get around. But, ultimately it’s the thrill of those who wind up in hell. Having cast themselves off from Yahweh, they will totally be on their own forever — in evil.

But, those whom Jesus has bought back in righteousness will be joined in righteousness with their righteous Creator forever. Though the sinful nature does not perceive this as a great thrill, those who have been born again in Christ know by faith that it’s a greater thrill than anything sin can offer.

Sinning against our own bodies is, quite frankly, stupid. We get some hints at that from nature. There’s diseases and stuff. And in order to sin against our bodies we’ve got to overcome the God-given resistance in our consciences. But, even so, we wouldn’t know the depths of our stupidity without the Word of God. The Law exposes our stupidity.

But, also contained in the Word of God is the good news that we have not been abandoned to our stupidity. The Son of God has been among us. He has bought us with His blood; applied forgiveness of sins to us; and put His Holy Spirit in us. Fortunately, we’re not our own. We’re owned, and we’re all the better for it. Therefore, come, Lord Jesus. Keep your own from falling into stupidity and unrighteousness. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the NIV.