What Christ did for us

 

Well, this is my final sermon as the official Zumbro Lutheran Intern.  My final intern paycheck has been cashed, so I guess today I can finally tell you all what I really think. 

I’m just joking; I’ll be working part time here next year as a pastoral assistant, so I can’t say what I really think for another year.

 

A year ago you were all strangers to me, but that has now changed.  Now I consider you MY congregation.  You have shared your lives with me, and I have shared mine with you.  I cared for you when you were sick, and you cared for me when I had shoulder surgery and when my grandpa passed away.  A lot of us went fishing together.  We encouraged each other’s faith in our Bible studies.  We traveled to the Appalachians in Kentucky and to Rocky Boy Indian Reservation in Montana together and probably got to know more about each other than we ever wanted.  You gave me many meals and wonderful conversations along with them.  You joked around with me on Sunday mornings and helped me feel comfortable in a brand new town full of brand new people.  You even trusted me with your children.  All of this bonded us together not only as pastor and congregation, but as friends.  And so for this past week I had been thinking… what is the most important message that I could leave with all of you who were strangers a year ago, and who I now call my friends.

 

My own faith in God and His presence in my life is the most important thing that I possess (I can’t stress that enough).  Every other good thing in my life that I possess, and even all of the difficult things that have challenged me I believe can be directly connected to God’s presence in my life.  With God, I believe that I have everything that is worth anything.  Without God, I have nothing that is worth anything. 

 

For this reason, the most important message that I could think of to give you was to simply tell you exactly what God has done for you through Jesus Christ, that you may also know that you are God’s and that God is yours.

 

It is easy to get confused about the gift that God gave to us in Christ.  There are libraries full of theology books written in order to try and explain what God did for us in Jesus Christ.  Today I would like to make it very simple.  In Jesus Christ God destroyed everything within you and without you that could keep God out, and so God in Jesus Christ has taken you for His own.   If there is one message I want to leave you with, that is it.  You are God’s.  God has taken you, God owns you, and God will never leave you. 

 

We know this when we look at Christ. 

 

In Jesus Christ God took on every piece of your humanity, every part of what it means to be human, the pretty parts and the ugly parts, He took it all to Himself so that there would be nothing in you that could ever keep him out. 

 

In Christ God became a tiny baby who cried when he was hungry, who did dirty things like messing up his diapers, and who needed a family to survive.  And so in Christ, God has taken you when you cry out of hunger, when you do dirty things, and when you need a family to survive.

 

In Christ, God became week and vulnerable.  He wept when His friend Lazarus died.  He grew angry when His temple was used as a place to buy and sell merchandise.  His confidence was shaken the night before he was crucified.  And so in Christ, God has taken you when you are week and vulnerable, when you weep, when you become angry, and when your confidence is shaken.

 

In Christ, God became sin.  In other words, In Christ God got in to you when you are at your worst.  When you are fighting with your family and friends, when you taking stuff that isn’t yours.  God got into you when you are doing those things that you can’t even tell your closest friends about. 

 

What all of this stuff boils down to is that in Christ God became human.  In Christ, God has crawled into every nook and cranny of your life and of your being.  There is nowhere inside you and nowhere outside of you that God is not present. 

 

And then, after God came to you in Jesus Christ and took on every part of your humanity… God died.  God was killed on a cross.  And so God killed every part of your humanity that could possibly keep you from Him, the ugly parts and the beautiful parts.  God killed your sin, so your sin can no longer keep you from God.  God killed death, so now death can no longer keep you from God.  God even killed your merits, so you are not under the illusion that you must earn God’s presence.  God killed your ugly parts and your beautiful parts so that He could raise you up with Jesus and claim every part as His own.

 

And then God in Jesus Christ was resurrected and God brought to Himself every piece of your humanity that he took and claimed it as His own, forever.  In other words, God gave you an eternal relationship with Him that you cannot break.  He took everything that is you; your sins, your mortality, your loves, your hates, God killed its power over you on the cross and then He raised you with Christ and claimed you as His.  God claimed you as His, and you cannot be otherwise. 

 

If there is any message that you heard me give throughout this past year I hope that this is the one that sticks.  The faith which says that God in Jesus Christ has claimed us as His and destroyed any sin that keeps us from Him is easy to comprehend, but it is definitely not always easy to believe.  Life instead will try to tell you that you can’t get something for nothing.  Life will try to tell you that all good things must be earned.  At work we get bonuses and raises if we are more productive.  In our personal relationships we get praise, candy, flowers, free meals, etc… when we treat people well.  When we treat people poorly we receive few gifts.  God has promised to relate to us in a different way.  He has given us a relationship with Him that does not depend on our gifts that we give to Him, but only on the gift that He has given to us, Jesus Christ.

 

Times will most likely come for you as they occasionally come for me when you will wonder if God cares, if God still wants you around, if God has any use for you, or if you have done something so awful that God has given up on you.  When those times come you may believe for a moment that you must re-earn God’s favor.  You may believe that you must become a better person before God will answer your prayers, or give you His presence.  When those times come, look at the cross and remember Jesus.  Remember that in Jesus God has taken EVERYTHING that is you, the pretty things and the ugly things, and in Jesus, God has taken all of that to Himself.  You can go nowhere without God and God goes nowhere without you.

 

As I mentioned earlier, this faith is my most prized possession.  It has been the most powerful gift that I have ever received.  It is there for you too.  Regardless of what you are or who you are, remember at the most you are God’s own and at the least you are God’s own.  God bless you all, and thank you for ministering to me and with me throughout this year.  Amen.