In our Confessions of Faith, we profess confident hope in the “resurrection of the dead” (Nicene Creed) and the “resurrection of the body” (Apostles’ Creed). The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life; which commences in resurrection. This month, I wish to explore with you the bedrock belief of resurrection; not resuscitation, which simply postpones death or makes dying a second time unavoidable (Lazarus, John 11), and not reincarnation (transmigration of the soul), which simply transforms the sinner into successive rebirths of sin. Resurrection is the core teaching of the church, the measure by which all bedrock beliefs stand or fall. One cannot be a Christian if one does not believe in the resurrection of the body/dead.

In I Corinthians 15, St. Paul, writing to the Christians in Corinth, probably during the Season of Easter, addresses the non-negotiable and indispensable teaching of the resurrection of the body/dead. The resurrection gives context and content to everything else Paul has to say to the Corinthians. The resurrection of the dead/body is the lens and filter by which doctrine and ethics are formed and shaped in daily life. Paul begins his teachings on resurrection with a statement of kerygma and a litany of appearances. The resurrection of Jesus is not an idle tale (Luke 24:11), or a fabricated story of bribery and grave robbers (Matthew 28:11-15). Paul reminds his brothers and sisters, in Christ, through a catalogue of witnesses, that there is plenty of proof that Christ has been raised from the dead.

The kerygma is the core teaching of our faith; a tradition to be guarded and passed on, not reinvented. This is our kerygma: “We proclaim that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried, and was raised on the third day” (I Cor. 15:3-4). Last of all, after hundreds of appearances, Jesus also appeared to Paul (Damascus Road conversion). Paul says that he was last and least of the apostles (like an aborted fetus) unfit to be called an apostle because he persecuted the church of God. Nevertheless, God’s grace to Paul was not in vain. God uses preaching to bring about our death and resurrection, our justification by faith alone.

Having reminded the Corinthians of their well-founded faith, Paul sounds a warning bell: “Don’t believe in vain!” Jesus’ resurrection and our resurrection are inseparably intertwined. Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruits, down payment, guarantee & pledge of more resurrections to come. Jesus’ dying and rising has transformed our mortality into a “falling asleep”. Our baptismal union with Jesus in His death and resurrection guarantees that our death is das todlein (Luther, “little death”). When one falls asleep, one has no conscious awareness of the passing of time; a thousand years is like a day to the Lord. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our awakening from “falling asleep”. Apparently, some believers in Corinth were denying the resurrection of the dead. Paul connects the dots and says, “If we aren’t going to be raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised, which means that our preaching and faith are in vain, which means that we are misrepresenting God, because God testifies to our resurrection in His Word. The bottom line is this: “Without the resurrection, we are still in our sin, perishable, and without hope. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

St. Paul counters the myths circulating in Corinth by digging in his heels and standing his ground for the Truth of the Gospel: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” It’s not a joke! Death is a disabled and defeated enemy. A human being (Adam) got us into this mess of sin, and a human being (Jesus) gets us out of this mess. Christ our Passover Lamb has been slain. We believe in the resurrection of the body, not the transmigration of the soul. What will this new body look like? Jesus was incognito to the Emmaus travelers. Jesus could walk through bolted doors, but he could also eat fish. Jesus was not a ghost; he invited disbelieving disciples to touch his wounds and place their fists into his side. St. Paul uses the metaphor of a seed when imagining the resurrection of the body. A grown plant looks different from the seed planted in the ground. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable!

Allow mystery to remain. What will we look like in eternity? How old will we be? What will heaven be like? Will my dog be there? Is there a separation of body and soul at the time of death? Remember, temporal and spatial limitations don’t exist in heaven. “Beloved, we are God’s children now. What we shall be has not yet been revealed, but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see him as He is. And everyone who hopes in Jesus purifies themselves as He is pure.” Because Christ is our future (I John 3), He becomes our present as well. The resurrection is not just future tense; it is also our present tense reality. We have been crucified with Christ and raised to new life. Theologian Wolfhart Pannenburg writes, “The evidence for the resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe that it happened, you have to change the way you live.”—from: March/April 1997 issue of Prism Magazine. Christ’s resurrection changed and changes everything! Christ is Risen Indeed!

Paul tells us a mystery! We will all be changed. Death has been swallowed up in victory. The mortal body must put on immortality! To a distraught Martha and Mary, Jesus proclaims the Truth: “I, I Am, the resurrection and the life; who-ever believes in me, though they die, yet shall they live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26a). Do you believe this? Paul writes these words to the Philippians: “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we await our Lord and Savior Jesus who will transform our bodies of humiliation into the body of Christ’s glory” (Phil. 3:20-21). “Therefore my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (I Cor. 15:58). We believe in the resurrection of the body/dead!

Because He Lives,
Pastor Dave

If sIn is unbelief, then God’s solution to the human predicament is justification by faith alone. If sIn is estrangement (enemies), then God’s solution is reconciliation (friends). If sIn is lawlessness, then God’s solution is the law abiding obedience of faith (Romans 1:5; 16:26). If sIn is concupiscence, the inordinate desire for the lesser good and the self curved in upon the self, then God’s solution is a new creation, a restored image, and a self set free from self preoccupation for the glory of God and the good of others.

“We are convinced,” Paul writes, “that one has died for all, therefore all have died.” Checkmate! Stare at the board if you must. Contemplate your next move, but the game is over. It is finished; mission accomplished (John 19:30). God wins, and by de facto so do we! Human beings are out of alignment and need of realignment. Human begins have missed the mark and need to be retargeted. If anyone is in Christ, and we are, they are a new creation. Everything old has passed away and everything has become new. Our justification is a matter of death and life.

St. Paul writes, emphatically, “I (I) have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I (I) who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I (I) now live, I (I) live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave his life for me”—Galatians 2:19-20. Armistice Day has arrived, but the Old Adam refuses to surrender and lay down his arms. The work of atonement continues. We are ambassadors for Christ. God makes His appeal through us: “Be reconciled!”—II Corinthians 5:20. The imperative is in a passive voice. We, who are birthed again from above (John 3), must be reconciled. Salvation and atonement demand it. God requires and guarantees it; by GRACE (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense) alone!

Gerhard Forde, in his book, Justification by Faith—A Matter of Death and Life, writes, “We are justified freely, for Christ’s sake, by faith, without the exertion of our own strength, gaining of merit, or doing of works. To the age old question, ‘What shall I do to be saved?’ the confessional answer is shocking: ‘Nothing! Just be still; shut up and listen for once in your life to what God the Almighty, creator and redeemer, is saying to his world and to you in the death and resurrection of his Son! Listen and believe!’ When one sees that it is a matter of death and life one has to talk this way. The ‘nothing’ must sound, risky and shocking as it is. For it is, as we shall see, precisely the death knell of the old being. The faith by which one is justified is not an active verb of which the old Adam or Eve is the subject, it is a state-of-being verb. Faith is the state of being grasped by the unconditional claim and promise of God who calls into being that which is from that which is not. Faith means now having to deal with life in those terms. It is a death and resurrection.”—p. 22.

Scot McKnight, in his book, A Community Called Atonement, reminds us that the Scriptures describe God’s atoning work in various ways. Jesus pays the penalty for our sin. Jesus makes satisfaction for our sin. Jesus gives his life as a ransom for our sin. Jesus is our substitute, taking sinners’ place on the cross and in the tomb; going to hell for us. Wolfart Pannenberg describes sin as “the universal failure to achieve our human destiny” (p. 23). McKnight says that atonement is God’s acts of resolving sin and bringing humans back home in their relationships with God, self, others and the world. The cross becomes God’s mercy seat. Jesus dies with us, instead of us. Jesus dies for us. Justification is God’s right-making. The future judgment is brought into effect in the here and now— “not guilty for Jesus’ sake”. The cross reshapes all of life. Atonement is the creation of communities where God’s image is restored, and God’s will is done and lived out. We practice the atonement as we live out the gospel in our union with God and in our communion with others.

In Christ we are a new creation; all things are new. God has given us a ministry of reconciliation. God makes His appeal through us. We are ambassadors in Christ, for Christ, reconciled and reconciling. We are a community called atonement, the vessels by which God brings the forgiveness of sins to the world. Incorporated into the Jesus’ story, atonement works, producing the fruits of righteousness in the Kingdom of God. Reconciled and reconciling…IN CHRIST

Pastor Dave

A woman once said to me, “Pastor, I don’t do guilt.” I paused and replied, “Then you must not do forgiveness either.” If guilt doesn’t exist, then sIn isn’t a problem and forgiveness isn’t necessary. If forgiveness isn’t necessary then Jesus didn’t need to die on a cross and we don’t need to be saved from sIn. Death is simply a nuisance, or an inevitability, from which we may or may not wish to escape. Furthermore, Christ’s words are meaningless: On the night in which he was betrayed, while sharing a Passover Meal with his disciples, Jesus said, “Take and drink. This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27- 28). Is Jesus telling the truth or proclaiming a lie? In Truth, sIn is a problem. Scripture, human experience and observation, life itself, assures us that “we are in bondage to sIn and we cannot free ourselves.” Evil exists and its killing us.

This month we continue our conversation about bedrock beliefs with a fresh look at sIn. I spell sIn with a capital “I” because sIn is an “I” problem; sIn is not only our acts of disobedience, lawlessness, unbelief, and idolatry, it is also our shared condition; it is what we do and who we are. Another word for sIn is concupiscence, which is “the inordinate desire for the lesser good, the self curved in upon the self”. A friend jokingly speaks the truth: “I’m tired of talking about me. Why don’t you talk about me for awhile?” Original sIn is our genesis. We are born into sIn and we actualize it in words and deeds daily, by what we do and by what we leave undone (sins of commission and sins of omission). Refusing to believe that our Creator knows what is best for us we fall upwards, grasping for something more…and we die! Death is our separation, estrangement, from God.

Imagine this: God creates human beings in God’s image to be in relationship; naked and not ashamed. Everything is good! God creates human beings to be down-to-earth (humus); earthlings created from the earth. Only one law exists in the Garden of Eden: “Don’t eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for the day you eat of it you shall surely die.” The serpent calls God a liar, puts God’s Word to the test, and offers enlightenment & freedom to Adam and Eve: “You won’t die. Eat and you will be just like God. You’ll be your own God. You won’t need God. You can be your own boss. You can call the shots.” The serpent invites Adam and Eve to embrace the lie and transgress the law. Humanity sins and immediately knows guilt. The eyes of Adam and Eve are opened and they hide. They try to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. God strolls in the Garden and finds Adam and Eve playing hide-in-seek. Adam says that he and Eve are hiding because they are naked and ashamed. God offers absolution: confession and forgiveness. Adam plays the victim and blames Eve and her Creator: “The woman YOU gave me, gave me the forbidden fruit.” Eve follows Adam’s lead: “The serpent YOU created tricked me.” We see that sIn leads to guilt, shame, hiding, blaming and devastating consequences; sIn is killing us!

So tell me, do you believe in sIn? Is sIn a problem for you? Here is what Scripture says about sIn:

- “For I know my transgressions and my sIn is ever before me. Against you O God, you alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight….I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.”—Psalm 51:3-5
- “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sIn is covered”—Psalm 32:1
- “No one is righteous, not even one;” “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”— Romans 3:10, 23
- “Just as sIn came into the world through one man, and death came through sIn, and so death spread to all because all have sinned.”—Romans 5:12
- “For the wages of sIn is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”—Romans 6:23
- “Anyone who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sIn.”—James 4:17
- “Everyone who commits sIn is guilty of lawlessness; sIn is lawlessness.”—I John 3:4
- “The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sIn. If we say we have no sIn, we deceive ourselves and the Truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar and His Word is not in us.”— I John 1:7-10
- “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”—Isaiah 1:18
- “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sIn of the world.”—John 1:29

If Scripture is the final authority in all matters of faith and life (a bedrock belief for another day) then sIn is an inescapable problem for us and Jesus is God’s only permanent solution (John 3:16). Why did God place the forbidden tree in the Garden? Why did God give Adam and Eve freewill? Martin Luther writes: “If someone at the last judgment were to ask God: ‘Why did you permit Adam to fall?’ God would answer, ‘So it might be known that I like the human race so much that I would give even my Son to save men.’” Luther adds that we would say, “Let the whole human race fall all over again so that Thy glory may be made manifest!”—WA, TR 5, 5071. God created us for Jesus! Jesus died for sinners. I guess I qualify!

Our Confessions remind us that “God creates us good, so we are not necessarily sinful, but we are in fact sinful.” The Greek word for sIn is hamartia, which means “missing the mark”. Martin Luther writes: “The main and real sin is unfaith, despising God, which is what takes place when a person does not fear, love, and trust in God as they certainly should.”—L.W. 14, 84. Sin is not just little white lies, misguided pranks, or hurtful words. Sin is our shared condition; idolatry which leads to death. We come by it naturally. I do guilt, because I do sIn. I also do forgiveness, because I do believe in Jesus. Shall we sIn all the more so that forgiveness may abound? By no means! How can we who have died to sin choose to wallow endlessly in it? St. Peter writes: “Christ bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that free from sins, we might live for righteousness” (I Peter 2:24). If I forget that I am a sinner, as well as a saint, please remind me!

Doing Guilt,
Pastor Dave

Mount Cross has a Laser focus on our youth!  This means that we have a variety of programs and services for youth from birth through High School.

Check out all the different links to learn about options for your youth.  Be sure to check out both the youth and education links for more information about the different opportunities there are!

In Christ,

Jamie Lindberg

Interim Youth Coordinator

We are in need of a parent to come as a second adult each week, see Jamie to sign up!

Upcoming 6th-8th Grade Youth Dates and Activities:

February 19th, 26th, March 4th – Youth Group 6:30pm-8:00pm

Friday, March 9th-Sunday, March 11th – SW-WA A.L.Y.V.E. Retreat @ Black Lake Bible Camp

March 11th, March 18th, March 25th – Youth Group 6:30pm-8:00pm

Friday, March 30th-Saturday, March 31st – UPYN Be SENT Event

]]> http://mountcrosslutheran.org/youth/weekly-programming/feed/ 0 http://mountcrosslutheran.org/youth/k-5th/k-5th-youth-activities/ http://mountcrosslutheran.org/youth/k-5th/k-5th-youth-activities/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:13 +0000 Jamie http://mountcrosslutheran.org/?p=947 Elementary Retreat!

Do you want to know what it’s like to be at camp? Here’s your chance!

Mount Cross is looking to get a group of youth in the 1st-5th grades to go to the Elementary Retreat at Lutherwood Camp and Retreat Center in Bellingham, WA.

When: Friday, March 23rd-Saturday, March 24th

Cost: $35 per participant

This camp opportunity fills up fast! Contact Nancy Morrow or Jamie Lindberg for more information.

Lutherwood Retreat Registration