WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.200 --> 00:00:05.900 Grace mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father from our Lord 2 00:00:05.900 --> 00:00:06.900 and Savior Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:08.100 Amen. 4 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:16.100 Communication Majors know that even a simple sentence could have 5 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:20.300 multiple meanings depending on which word in that sentence is 6 00:00:20.300 --> 00:00:20.900 stressed. 7 00:00:21.900 --> 00:00:26.700 For example of a simple 7 word sentence could have seven different 8 00:00:26.700 --> 00:00:27.600 meanings. 9 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:35.300 I never said he stole that money. 10 00:00:35.300 --> 00:00:37.500 I don't want you to go there right now. 11 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:43.100 But after while consider how different it is depending upon which one 12 00:00:43.100 --> 00:00:47.800 of those words is being stressed. It's a part of the difficulty that we 13 00:00:47.800 --> 00:00:52.100 have communicating in writing and especially these days communicating 14 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:52.400 online. 15 00:00:52.400 --> 00:00:58.600 We don't always know how to read the author's emphasis so we don't 16 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:00.100 always get the meaning. 17 00:01:01.300 --> 00:01:04.000 Today's lesson begins with one of those kinds of statements 18 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:06.500 from now on. 19 00:01:07.500 --> 00:01:13.100 Maybe you use those words in a moment of anger as an ultimatum or is a 20 00:01:13.100 --> 00:01:13.600 threat. 21 00:01:14.800 --> 00:01:18.400 From now on you're going to clean up your act or else. 22 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:22.400 Or maybe views them as part of an apology. 23 00:01:24.800 --> 00:01:28.100 I'm sorry from now on I'll try harder. 24 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.000 Or maybe is a promise he going to campaign promise if I'm elected from 25 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:37.200 now on everything is going to be so much brighter. 26 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:43.200 From now on always implies that things are going to be different. 27 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:45.400 Things are going to change. 28 00:01:47.300 --> 00:01:52.800 Paul wrote these words to the Christians in Corinth and he introduced them 29 00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:57.000 to the Corinthians by reminding them that the appointed time has grown 30 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.100 very short and so from now on. 31 00:02:01.600 --> 00:02:06.000 He began to list specific ways in which our lives as Christians are 32 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:06.600 different. 33 00:02:07.600 --> 00:02:09.699 Now that we've celebrated Christmas. 34 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:15.600 Now that the Lord Jesus has come into the darkness of the world with 35 00:02:15.600 --> 00:02:17.500 the good news of his kingdom. 36 00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:21.800 Now that our savior has suffered and died on a cross 37 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:23.700 everything is different. 38 00:02:25.300 --> 00:02:28.300 He is risen and now we are waiting for his return. 39 00:02:29.700 --> 00:02:33.900 And so from now on we live eschatologically. 40 00:02:35.100 --> 00:02:36.800 What does that mean for us? 41 00:02:38.600 --> 00:02:44.400 How different must our lives be? What changes does he expect to see? 42 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:49.800 It scares our human nature because we don't know just exactly what 43 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:50.600 these words mean. 44 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:54.500 Gospel for this weekend. 45 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:55.700 St. 46 00:02:55.700 --> 00:02:59.200 Mark records the the call of the first disciples. 47 00:03:00.200 --> 00:03:04.400 We're told that Jesus is walking along the seashore. 48 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:09.300 He saw the first two Simon and Andrew and he said follow me and I'll 49 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:12.600 make you Fishers of Men and Mark says immediately 50 00:03:12.600 --> 00:03:14.100 they left their nets 51 00:03:14.100 --> 00:03:15.100 they left their boats 52 00:03:15.100 --> 00:03:19.700 they left everything and followed Jesus. And then he called James and 53 00:03:19.700 --> 00:03:24.800 John and again, Mark says, they left their father Zebedee and they're 54 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:26.700 hired men and they followed him too. 55 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:34.000 So you get the impression that things changed for them immediately and 56 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:34.800 drastically. 57 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:40.300 Fishing was never going to be the same. 58 00:03:41.900 --> 00:03:44.900 Things that may have once irritated them like 59 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:48.800 torn, tangled, empty nets. 60 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.600 The price of fish in the fish market wasn't going to keep him awake all night 61 00:03:54.600 --> 00:03:55.000 anymore. 62 00:03:56.600 --> 00:04:01.200 Had to leave family and friends, but now they open their arms and 63 00:04:01.200 --> 00:04:05.300 their hearts to a whole new world people. People they had never noticed 64 00:04:05.300 --> 00:04:06.400 before people. People 65 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:07.200 they have probably despised 66 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:08.500 before. But now they were going 67 00:04:11.600 --> 00:04:12.900 fishing for those people 68 00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:15.700 and nothing would ever be the same. 69 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:25.000 And this means for us from now on living eschatologically our lives 70 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:26.100 are going to be different too. 71 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:36.200 In the past we may gotten anxious and afraid and worried and bound 72 00:04:36.200 --> 00:04:37.900 up by all the things of this world. 73 00:04:39.100 --> 00:04:44.900 Think of how in the last few weeks your life has been impacted by a 74 00:04:44.900 --> 00:04:45.500 pandemic, 75 00:04:47.500 --> 00:04:48.900 presidential politics, 76 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:57.700 race relationships or exams or papers or tuition or finances or 77 00:04:57.700 --> 00:04:59.400 things going on back home? 78 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:01.100 St. 79 00:05:01.100 --> 00:05:04.800 Paul reminds us the appointed time has grown very short. 80 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:10.800 The present form of this world is passing away from now on. 81 00:05:13.400 --> 00:05:18.700 The message of the Epiphany season is that God manifested and continues to 82 00:05:18.700 --> 00:05:20.600 manifest his glory do us. 83 00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:27.100 God himself has come into the darkness of this world into the midst of 84 00:05:27.100 --> 00:05:28.700 all the stuff going on. 85 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:35.000 And Jesus the Son of God endured the pain and the poverty and the 86 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.700 cruelty and the injustice and the rejection. 87 00:05:39.200 --> 00:05:42.000 And he served people in all of their needs. 88 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:52.700 Most importantly, he bore your sins and your sorrows, your guilt, your 89 00:05:52.700 --> 00:05:54.900 shame, your fears. 90 00:05:54.900 --> 00:05:57.400 He bore them all to the cross 91 00:05:58.500 --> 00:05:59.700 and through the tomb. 92 00:06:01.700 --> 00:06:05.100 The Risen Savior has redeemed all of life. 93 00:06:06.100 --> 00:06:08.700 He has redeemed your life. 94 00:06:08.700 --> 00:06:14.800 He has asserted his authority over all creation and ever over every 95 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:15.800 moment of time. 96 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:24.200 His kingdom has come it's here and it's now and so Paul wrote from now 97 00:06:24.200 --> 00:06:28.900 on. I want you to be free from all anxieties. 98 00:06:31.200 --> 00:06:38.600 Apparently he'd received a report Corinthians were anxious over how to 99 00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:41.400 view marriage, eschatologically. 100 00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:47.000 So we wrote from now on let those who have wives live as if they had 101 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:47.700 none. 102 00:06:48.700 --> 00:06:52.700 He isn't commanding married people to ignore their spouses to 103 00:06:52.700 --> 00:06:53.700 get divorced. 104 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:58.200 Nor does he really say that single people need to remain single. 105 00:06:59.400 --> 00:07:02.100 In fact, he spends a lot of time in this chapter 106 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:05.900 affirming that marriage is a gift from God. 107 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:12.900 What he's addressing is what I would sometimes call the Hallmark 108 00:07:12.900 --> 00:07:16.000 Christmas Show view of marriage. 109 00:07:17.500 --> 00:07:22.200 Where two people meet and against all odds and in the midst of all of 110 00:07:22.200 --> 00:07:27.000 their division from one another manage to fall in love get married 111 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:32.400 and live happily ever after. And it's all rained in this soft white and 112 00:07:32.400 --> 00:07:33.900 this romantic mood. 113 00:07:33.900 --> 00:07:37.500 As if that's what marriage is really all about. 114 00:07:40.100 --> 00:07:42.200 Paul would say the kingdom of God is at hand. 115 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:48.700 From now on your marriage, your family, your home is going to be 116 00:07:48.700 --> 00:07:53.300 different. Just getting married and raising a family isn't the goal. 117 00:07:53.300 --> 00:07:58.800 We're talkin about a Christian marriage and a Christian family where 118 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:04.300 a husband and wife truly love honor cherish forgive and encourage one 119 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:05.100 another in the faith. 120 00:08:06.700 --> 00:08:11.200 And where parents, Christian parents, raise their children in the faith 121 00:08:11.200 --> 00:08:15.300 and leave them by the hand Jesus their lord and savior. 122 00:08:17.200 --> 00:08:18.200 Where single people 123 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:20.700 and all people 124 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:26.000 lead chaste and decent lives in their words and their deeds. 125 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:29.200 This is God's will for you. 126 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:36.600 Jesus has come and is coming again. And from now on Paul said let those 127 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:39.299 who mourn live as though they were not morning. 128 00:08:40.299 --> 00:08:43.400 And those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing. 129 00:08:45.400 --> 00:08:49.000 That's not to say we need to stuff all of our feelings like the 130 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:50.000 ancient stoics. 131 00:08:51.500 --> 00:08:56.200 Isn't this the same word that Jesus spoke to his disciples on that 132 00:08:56.200 --> 00:08:58.800 night before he died. 133 00:08:59.700 --> 00:09:01.000 When he said I tell you the truth. 134 00:09:02.300 --> 00:09:08.400 You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will be 135 00:09:08.400 --> 00:09:10.900 sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. So you have sorrow now but I will see you again. 136 00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:21.500 And your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. 137 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:28.900 From now on living eschatologically things that normally cause sorrow 138 00:09:28.900 --> 00:09:35.300 those those illnesses and accidents, tragedies and even the death of 139 00:09:35.300 --> 00:09:39.300 our loved ones can't crush us or drive us to despair. 140 00:09:40.900 --> 00:09:45.200 For Saint Paul told the Romans there is nothing in all of this 141 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:45.700 creation. 142 00:09:46.900 --> 00:09:51.200 That can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. 143 00:09:54.300 --> 00:09:56.300 Likewise those things that bring you Joy. 144 00:09:57.800 --> 00:09:59.700 Those unexpected surprises. 145 00:10:00.900 --> 00:10:06.200 Those victories for your team on their way to the Super bowl. A gift 146 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:06.900 from a sponsor. 147 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:08.200 A great medical report 148 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:12.200 those are all gifts from God as well. 149 00:10:13.400 --> 00:10:16.400 Gifts for you to enjoy but again not the end in themselves. 150 00:10:17.800 --> 00:10:22.300 For he has promised you a joy that no one will ever be able to take 151 00:10:22.300 --> 00:10:22.800 from you. 152 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:28.300 Jesus has come and he's coming again. 153 00:10:28.300 --> 00:10:33.500 And from now on those buy should live as though they had no goods. 154 00:10:33.500 --> 00:10:37.200 And those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with 155 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:37.400 it. 156 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:43.400 You know that for many people in the world today the goal in life is 157 00:10:43.400 --> 00:10:44.700 just making a living. 158 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:48.600 Some getting rich. 159 00:10:49.900 --> 00:10:52.100 And some being successful. 160 00:10:54.300 --> 00:10:56.300 But that isn't really what your life is about. 161 00:10:57.900 --> 00:11:01.900 Jesus has taught us a man's life doesn't consist in the abundance of 162 00:11:01.900 --> 00:11:02.300 his possessions. 163 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:09.200 Many years later one of those fishermen St. 164 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:12.100 John understood what Jesus was talking about. 165 00:11:12.100 --> 00:11:18.100 He wrote to his followers did not love the world or the things of the 166 00:11:18.100 --> 00:11:18.500 world. 167 00:11:19.700 --> 00:11:24.900 If anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him. For all 168 00:11:24.900 --> 00:11:27.600 that is in the world the cravings of sinful man 169 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:32.100 the lust of his eyes the pride of his life is not from the Father, 170 00:11:33.500 --> 00:11:34.500 from the world. 171 00:11:35.900 --> 00:11:38.200 The world and its desires are passing away. 172 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:43.200 But whoever does the will of God lives forever. 173 00:11:46.100 --> 00:11:51.000 In the last verse of today's lesson verse 35 Saint Paul says that he 174 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:55.800 wrote to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord, 175 00:11:56.600 --> 00:11:57.600 from now on. 176 00:11:59.300 --> 00:12:00.500 That's not an ultimatum. 177 00:12:02.300 --> 00:12:03.300 That's not a threat. 178 00:12:05.400 --> 00:12:06.900 Certainly, not an apology. 179 00:12:08.400 --> 00:12:10.100 Clearly a promise. 180 00:12:11.900 --> 00:12:12.700 Your marriage, 181 00:12:14.100 --> 00:12:19.000 your family, your joys and sorrows your possession 182 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:22.400 all of your life is now different. 183 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:28.800 For you've heard the savior's gracious call follow me and you know his 184 00:12:28.800 --> 00:12:29.300 love. 185 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:31.600 You know his forgiveness. 186 00:12:33.400 --> 00:12:37.900 You live in the expectation that he is going to return. 187 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:44.000 So now you have a whole new perspective on life, 188 00:12:45.400 --> 00:12:48.500 an undivided devotion to Jesus. 189 00:12:51.500 --> 00:12:52.900 From now on then 190 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:55.200 by the grace of God 191 00:12:56.800 --> 00:13:00.400 things really are going to be different for you, 192 00:13:02.400 --> 00:13:03.100 in Jesus. 193 00:13:04.900 --> 00:13:05.700 Amen. 194 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:12.200 May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your 195 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:14.600 hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 196 00:13:16.100 --> 00:13:16.900 Amen. 197 00:13:18.900 --> 00:13:21.500 Our service continues with the sermon hymn.