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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our father and from our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
[00:00:08] The last verse of that hymn spells out very briefly and concisely, well, what we face in life, the difficulties and challenges kind of summed up in one word. Well, one phrase, open eyed. My grave is staring.
[00:00:28] You know, sometimes we forget it, but we're mortal.
[00:00:33] And so, I mean, I think this is kind of the ultimate maybe nagging problem or fear. Sometimes we experience it in an injury or, you know, some other reminder to us that we are falling apart bodily.
[00:00:57] Open eyed. My grave is staring. Even there I'll sleep secure.
[00:01:03] Even there I'll sleep secure.
[00:01:06] So in these two phrases, we just, we get basically, you know, no matter what's going on, there's nothing to fear.
[00:01:15] How?
[00:01:18] Looking to Jesus.
[00:01:20] That's what the apostles did as they took the gospel message of Jesus to the world and faced persecution and death.
[00:01:29] How'd they do it? With confidence. How do our christian brothers and sisters in other countries go to their death confessing Jesus Christ, unafraid of the consequences by faith in Jesus, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. Ah, it's nothing.
[00:01:56] It's nothing because of the promises that we have in Christ.
[00:02:00] Open eyed, my grave is staring even there I'll sleep secure. Though my flesh awaits its raising, still my soul continues praising I am baptized into Christ. I'm a child of paradise.
[00:02:16] That's our hope.
[00:02:22] This life is a struggle.
[00:02:25] We have all kinds of struggles.
[00:02:28] Sometimes it's pain or loss, but ultimately that's not the struggle.
[00:02:37] Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It's against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
[00:02:57] If our struggle were against flesh and blood, against physical pain or lack of what we need, then the apostles would have lost.
[00:03:10] They would have lost. Although eventually, I guess they do have everything they need. Physically, they're raised from the dead on the last day in Christ.
[00:03:21] But in this life, the struggle is not against flesh and blood. We'll let Jesus take care of that in the resurrection.
[00:03:29] In this life, the struggle is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places that would have us make shipwreck of our faith now, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
[00:03:48] It's a very scary line, and I mean, it should be very scary.
[00:03:53] We should, we should think of that as something very intimidating in a sense. I mean, we should not think of that lightly, like spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. That's above our heads.
[00:04:10] Which is why we look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who went before us. Why we look to Jesus, who defeated the devil, who defeated the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. We see Jesus out in the wilderness being tempted by Satan and not giving in. You think of him as having armor, as having that breastplate of righteousness and the belt of truth.
[00:04:35] He's not going to depart from the truth. He says, I am. The way, the truth and the life. He's not going to depart from righteousness.
[00:04:43] You could almost think of that as the way, I suppose, the way, the truth and the life. He's not going to depart from being righteous. He's not going to depart from the truth. He's going to wield the sword of the spirit. Like there he is out there. And we see all the armor at work.
[00:05:01] And our only hope for having that kind of armor is looking to Jesus Christ. On our own. We're nothing.
[00:05:14] The hymn speaks of baptism as the key, and that's because. Well, not because water has so much power, right? But water combined with the word water, in which the promise has been given, that if we're baptized into Christ, then we're baptized into his death and into his resurrection. That in baptism you were united with Jesus, and he took from you, well, what you didn't want. Like everything. You're married now. Like you and Christ, you're married. And so everything that you had, Christ is now Christ. He takes it. He absorbs it all. He takes your sin, your weakness, your mortality and frailty. He takes it on himself. And of course, all that stuff just kind of melts away in him, right? He absorbs it, but it doesn't make him weak or sinful or frail.
[00:06:12] He can take it. And then he gives to you his righteousness and strength and peace.
[00:06:20] He gives you the fruits of the spirit, which he embodies perfectly.
[00:06:26] Love and joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.
[00:06:33] He restores you.
[00:06:35] And not like. Not like now you're off on your own again.
[00:06:40] But so that you can say, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
[00:06:45] Christ living in you, bearing the armor, wielding the sword.
[00:06:51] Put another way, you know, put on the new man. That new man is Christ.
[00:07:01] Now, we're often tempted, though, to think that our struggle is against flesh and blood.
[00:07:12] We might think that as election day comes up, however you're thinking things need to go, it might seem like, getting the right person in office is the answer. And I'm not saying that's not important. Okay. And our responsibility as citizens in the United States, with the government set up the way it is, you know, you've got a real responsibility to vote and to, I don't know, maybe to campaign or something like that. Right. But we should recognize that the answer isn't that simple.
[00:07:53] Getting a political candidate in office is a way of, well, these days it's seen as getting power. Like, you get the right person in office and they're going to put things in place and they're going to change things a certain way, and then things will be better.
[00:08:15] But I think that on the political level, it's the same as, as on the individual level. Right? So let's, let's bring it back to the individual. Like, what's, what's our real problem?
[00:08:26] Like, well, if I just had a little bit more money, you know, a little bit more power, like, if I just didn't have such and such a problem, or if this relationship weren't nagging me, you know, if it were healed, then I could make the right choices, or then I could live by faith.
[00:08:45] We might think that on a political level, even with regard to faith, like, if we just put the right laws in place, then we'll safeguard our religious freedom and then we can be faithful to God.
[00:08:59] But it kind of flips the order around.
[00:09:02] It's not so much that my circumstances need to change for me to be faithful. Look at Jesus going to the cross, you know, look at those circumstances. Like, look at the apostles going to their death proclaiming the gospel. Look at their circumstances.
[00:09:17] It doesn't depend on our circumstances.
[00:09:20] It's in the midst of suffering and difficulty that the fight happens.
[00:09:27] The struggle isn't against flesh and blood.
[00:09:30] It's not like a modern desire to, like, eradicate sickness and bring us immortality through medicine.
[00:09:41] All these things we're tempted to latch onto, these causes. Like, this is what's going to help us again, medicine, great. You know, that's a good way to care for our neighbor. Politics, important. Really important.
[00:09:58] You know, political.
[00:10:00] Political problems have caused a whole lot of suffering and death in the past, right? I mean, it's not that politics aren't important, but in Christ, we see there's a priority.
[00:10:17] It starts with our heart.
[00:10:19] That's what really matters, and that's what this life is all about. You know, God gave us suffering and mortality in the garden as a consequence of our hearts being corrupted.
[00:10:32] Eve listened to the devil was corrupted, right? Her heart was corrupted, and she took and ate the fruit.
[00:10:40] Cain and Abel both offered the first fruits to God. Right, Abel. Abel was working the ground. He gave the first fruits of his harvest.
[00:10:51] Did I say that right? Cain was. Did I say Cain?
[00:10:55] Cain worked the ground, right? Gave God the first fruits of his harvest. Abel was a shepherd, gave him the first fruits of his flock.
[00:11:04] Outwardly, they were the same. I mean, that was just fine. It's not that God prefers lamb to vegetables or something like that. Outwardly they're the same.
[00:11:18] Inwardly, there's a problem, and you see it when God says, well, Cain, why are you so mad about this?
[00:11:24] Like, a child being angry with his parents, that kind of thing. Like, why are you angry about this? You do well and it'll be fine for you. But if not, then sin is crouching at your door. Don't let it devour you. But you see his heart being. Being devoured by sin, and then it overcomes him and he kills his brother.
[00:11:50] It's not the outward thing that defiles us. It's the sickness in our hearts, and that's what we need healing for.
[00:11:58] And how do we heal it?
[00:12:01] Well, in the garden, we went wrong by paying attention to the wrong leader, by listening to the words of the devil and letting those guide us. And, well, the cure is to pay attention to Christ, to look to him. That's what faith is, to look to him and let his words work in us, to let him enter our hearts and shape us according to his will.
[00:12:28] Faith in Christ is the answer.
[00:12:35] Only take care and keep your soul diligently.
[00:12:40] How do we keep our soul diligently?
[00:12:43] Looking to Christ?
[00:12:49] St. Augustine, an early church father, a bishop, tells the story of a Mandev who was very concerned about keeping his soul diligently.
[00:13:07] I mean, first we might ask, like, what does it mean to keep your soul diligently, though, you know? And isn't that Jesus job? And aren't we saved by grace through faith and by no works of ourselves? So what do you mean? We have something to do to keep our soul diligently.
[00:13:23] And that might make sense, like, theologically, on paper, but then it's like you go home and you have some choices to make about what you're going to pay attention to or how you're going to deal with the problem. And are you going to look to Jesus in faith, or are you going to give in to your own desires? And then the rubber hits the road.
[00:13:44] So St. Augustine tells this story about a man who needed to keep his soul diligently.
[00:13:51] And he recognized that going to the Coliseum and watching the gladiator fights probably wasn't going to be good for him.
[00:14:00] He knew he shouldn't do it.
[00:14:04] And so day after day, his friends would go, and he said, nope, I'm not going to go. I'm a Christian. I got to keep my soul diligently. I don't know if he used those words.
[00:14:16] So one day, though, they say, come on, come on in, and they drag him in. They drag him into the coliseum to watch the gladiators, and he's thinking, all right, I'm just going to shut my eyes. Because if I shut my eyes, the eyes are kind of the window to my heart. He recognizes. And so if I shut my eyes, then my heart's not going to be incited or excited by the. By what it sees. I'm not going to get hooked. And you can think of the Coliseum as kind of like watching horror movies. Like, there's. There's something about horror movies that attracts people's attention. You know, it's not just things that we love, that we pay attention to. It's also, like the shocking things, right? And they can. I mean, they can hook people, right?
[00:15:03] That's what the coliseum was all about. I mean, people went there because it was so shocking and interesting.
[00:15:12] So he gets dragged in, and he shuts his eyes, and things go well until the doors of his ears aren't closed. And he hears the reveling of the crowd and the cries of the gladiators and things like that, the clash of steel. And his heart is excited, you know, and he. And he opens his eyes, and then he's hooked like this. Then he just keeps going back to the coliseum, you see?
[00:15:45] Take care. Keep your soul diligently.
[00:15:51] Why? Because we can be corrupted by what we hear. Again, Eve listens to the serpent. Martin Luther says that's her downfall, is that she pays attention to the serpent. The doors of her heart, you might call those the senses. The doors of her heart are opened to the wrong source, and her heart is corrupted.
[00:16:17] We have lots of things to be corrupted by these days, as in every age.
[00:16:25] And so when Jesus says it's not anything that enters you, that corrupts you, it's what comes out of your heart, he's not saying, like, ah, nothing matters, right? Like, you're sinful. You've always been sinful, but I'll forgive your sins and save you, and then you're good.
[00:16:46] It's not exactly that.
[00:16:49] It's more like, recognize that the problem isn't what's outside.
[00:16:53] It's not like we just have to stop those gladiator fights, you know, like, we just got to get some legislation to clean up the Internet. Right? Like, we just gotta get the right person in office. Right? Or the right people on the Supreme Court. There's a. You know, those things would be great. You know, like, all those kinds of things can. Can do a lot of good. All right? And. But at this point, like, we're not gonna stop the corrupting flood of influences in our society.
[00:17:27] We might be able to help eliminate corrupting influences from inside our homes, but it's the renewal of our hearts that matters.
[00:17:42] Again, we should work for good legislation regarding abortion, let's say. I mean, like, that's what we have the ability to do as citizens of our country. We're in this unique position in history where we can participate in government, and so we can actually try to help fewer babies be aborted and that kind of thing. Right. But unlike a. It's the heart level, ultimately, right, that we should be most concerned about.
[00:18:30] We can try and control things outside, but then when we find we can't control them, maybe we're thrown into chaos or anger or whatever. Right.
[00:18:40] Being active society is important, but first comes the heart transformation.
[00:18:48] And so in the early church, early Christians didn't really have that opportunity. Like, you could write to the emperor, but he was the emperor, you know?
[00:18:58] And so instead, christians were running around picking up babies from hilltops because that was the custom, was you just, you have the baby, and then you expose it on a hilltop if you. You don't want it. So the Christians were running around and grabbing them and raising them, you know, adoption, right. Doing what they could.
[00:19:22] Ultimately, what we need for ourselves, what we need as a country, and we could think on different levels, too, is on our church. Right. Our church, like, we've got. Do we have problems? Like, well, every church has difficulties, and we've had some difficulties in our past and such. And what do we need just to change some outward things, like, it's about our heart. Like, that's what we need changed. And how does that change happen? By looking to Christ together in faith or individually? By looking to Christ and having him shape us or on a national level.
[00:20:02] I don't know, telling people about Christ, being involved in education and raising people up in the faith and in the truth and things like that.
[00:20:15] It's a matter first of the heart.
[00:20:22] Therefore, take up the whole armor of goddess that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand firm, we can't stand firm by ourselves. That's why he says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to.
[00:20:41] How do you take up the armor of God?
[00:20:44] Not with your hands.
[00:20:47] Not with a vote.
[00:20:50] Hands and votes are good.
[00:20:52] How do we take up the armor of God?
[00:20:55] How do we put on Christ?
[00:20:59] It's by looking to him in faith.
[00:21:03] Or you could say, praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication, like Paul says at the end, almost like a summary.
[00:21:10] Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, brothers and sisters in Christ. We're here to stay alert, to not fall asleep in faith, to remind ourselves of the struggle.
[00:21:27] That it's not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities and powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, and to point each other to Jesus Christ, who has the armor, who gives the armor, who gives the strengthen to stand firm, who gives that breastplate of righteousness and readiness given by the gospel of peace. Again, think of the apostles or Jesus himself. The helmet of salvation.
[00:21:59] You've got protection from what might hurt you.
[00:22:03] The sword of the spirit.
[00:22:06] We can.
[00:22:08] Well, we've got great, great weapons with which to vanquish the devil. None of them come from us. All of them come from Christ.
[00:22:17] In your baptism and by faith, you have been united to Jesus Christ.
[00:22:23] He's drawn you to himself, united you to himself, and given you strength as you look to Jesus. So our whole life is one of remembering what God has done for us, remembering his promises, looking to him, remembering our baptism, that we are united to Christ, that we are children of God, that we are children of paradise. In Jesus name, amen.