WEBVTT STYLE ::cue { color: #ffffff; } 00:00:00.650 --> 00:00:01.866 In the name of Jesus. 00:00:01.978 --> 00:00:02.830 Amen. 00:00:04.850 --> 00:00:05.806 Toward the end of the 00:00:05.828 --> 00:00:06.938 first century, 00:00:07.114 --> 00:00:10.926 the Roman governor Pliny wrote a 00:00:10.948 --> 00:00:13.390 letter to his emperor, Trajan, 00:00:14.290 --> 00:00:16.202 and he reported some strange 00:00:16.265 --> 00:00:19.022 gatherings in his region by this 00:00:19.076 --> 00:00:21.150 group called Christians. 00:00:21.890 --> 00:00:22.990 He writes, 00:00:23.810 --> 00:00:25.558 they were accustomed to meet on 00:00:25.564 --> 00:00:29.574 a fixed day before dawn and 00:00:29.612 --> 00:00:31.138 to sing, responsibly, 00:00:31.234 --> 00:00:35.160 a hymn to Christ as to a God. 00:00:37.860 --> 00:00:38.744 For Pliny 00:00:38.812 --> 00:00:40.484 the problem was not so much that 00:00:40.522 --> 00:00:42.704 this crazy group was singing 00:00:42.752 --> 00:00:45.510 to a man as to a god. 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:48.916 That alone was not 00:00:48.938 --> 00:00:50.624 philosophically incomprehensible 00:00:50.672 --> 00:00:52.600 for Romans in the first century. 00:00:52.940 --> 00:00:54.570 They had, after all, 00:00:54.940 --> 00:00:57.688 deified several very human 00:00:57.774 --> 00:00:59.960 emperors over the centuries. 00:01:01.020 --> 00:01:01.432 No, 00:01:01.486 --> 00:01:03.128 the problem for Pliny and for 00:01:03.134 --> 00:01:04.459 the rest of the ancient world 00:01:04.530 --> 00:01:06.140 was that these Christians were 00:01:06.210 --> 00:01:08.296 singing to a crucified 00:01:08.408 --> 00:01:10.990 man as to a god. 00:01:12.320 --> 00:01:14.860 That was foolishness 00:01:16.020 --> 00:01:17.856 to think that a human being who 00:01:17.878 --> 00:01:18.976 had suffered such a 00:01:18.998 --> 00:01:20.450 humiliating end, 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:24.204 who was flogged and bloodied 00:01:24.332 --> 00:01:26.000 like a common criminal, 00:01:27.300 --> 00:01:29.540 beaten and spat upon, 00:01:30.440 --> 00:01:31.440 crucified 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:34.736 naked with his lifeblood 00:01:34.848 --> 00:01:36.480 dripping out slowly 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:37.940 but inevitably 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:40.836 and eventually suffocating to 00:01:40.858 --> 00:01:43.876 death as his lung lungs filled 00:01:43.908 --> 00:01:46.216 with fluid that anyone would 00:01:46.238 --> 00:01:48.810 sing to this guy as to a god. 00:01:49.900 --> 00:01:52.680 That was incomprehensible. 00:01:55.380 --> 00:01:56.896 But the foolishness of 00:01:56.918 --> 00:01:58.450 a crucified Christ, 00:01:58.980 --> 00:02:00.450 our God man, 00:02:00.820 --> 00:02:02.784 who suffered for us and 00:02:02.822 --> 00:02:03.776 for the whole world, 00:02:03.878 --> 00:02:06.544 that foolishness is 00:02:06.582 --> 00:02:07.650 the good news. 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:11.076 As St. Paul says in our text, 00:02:11.178 --> 00:02:14.020 we preach Christ crucified, 00:02:15.160 --> 00:02:17.152 a stumbling block to Jews 00:02:17.216 --> 00:02:19.700 and folly to Gentiles. 00:02:20.540 --> 00:02:22.760 But to those who are called both 00:02:22.830 --> 00:02:25.050 Jews and Greeks, Christ, 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:27.896 the power of God and 00:02:27.918 --> 00:02:29.290 the wisdom of God. 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:34.744 Preach one thing Martin Luther 00:02:34.792 --> 00:02:38.700 said the wisdom of the cross. 00:02:40.640 --> 00:02:42.184 For the wisdom of the cross, 00:02:42.232 --> 00:02:43.624 which the world considers 00:02:43.672 --> 00:02:45.100 to be foolishness, 00:02:45.440 --> 00:02:47.724 is the actual content of 00:02:47.762 --> 00:02:49.208 Christian preaching. 00:02:49.384 --> 00:02:51.710 It is the gospel itself. 00:02:54.720 --> 00:02:56.590 But we struggle with this, 00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:57.740 do we not, 00:02:57.810 --> 00:02:59.010 with actually doing it. 00:03:01.610 --> 00:03:03.198 For many in the church at large, 00:03:03.284 --> 00:03:05.530 it seems a terribly onesided 00:03:05.610 --> 00:03:07.454 focus to narrow down to this 00:03:07.492 --> 00:03:08.286 little part of the 00:03:08.308 --> 00:03:09.546 Apostles Creed, 00:03:09.658 --> 00:03:11.274 suffered under Pontius Pilate, 00:03:11.322 --> 00:03:12.202 was crucified, 00:03:12.266 --> 00:03:13.710 died and was buried. 00:03:14.770 --> 00:03:17.294 All to the relative neglect of 00:03:17.332 --> 00:03:19.086 some other seemingly important 00:03:19.188 --> 00:03:21.226 doctrines in the first article 00:03:21.338 --> 00:03:22.394 or the third article 00:03:22.442 --> 00:03:23.470 of the Creed, 00:03:24.450 --> 00:03:26.166 or to the neglect of the 00:03:26.188 --> 00:03:27.750 doctrine of the resurrection. 00:03:29.130 --> 00:03:29.734 I mean, 00:03:29.772 --> 00:03:30.850 shouldn't the resurrection 00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:31.622 window here, 00:03:31.676 --> 00:03:32.710 the fact that it is 00:03:32.780 --> 00:03:33.958 front and center, 00:03:34.124 --> 00:03:35.762 tell us that the resurrection 00:03:35.826 --> 00:03:37.560 is the most important thing, 00:03:37.870 --> 00:03:39.530 not the crucifixion? 00:03:41.950 --> 00:03:43.754 Or along other lines for those 00:03:43.792 --> 00:03:45.781 of us who must write sermons 00:03:45.846 --> 00:03:47.420 and then preach them. 00:03:48.430 --> 00:03:49.970 Do we not find ourselves 00:03:50.070 --> 00:03:52.926 struggling at times to shape our 00:03:52.948 --> 00:03:54.698 sermons around the preaching 00:03:54.793 --> 00:03:55.950 of the cross? 00:03:56.690 --> 00:03:57.600 I mean, 00:03:58.130 --> 00:04:00.206 how relatively easy it is to 00:04:00.228 --> 00:04:01.566 craft the law parts of 00:04:01.588 --> 00:04:03.140 the sermon, isn't it? 00:04:03.750 --> 00:04:05.970 And sometimes in such a fine way 00:04:06.040 --> 00:04:08.286 as to convict the hearer, 00:04:08.398 --> 00:04:09.841 as if you're giving your final 00:04:09.896 --> 00:04:11.620 summation in law and order 00:04:14.070 --> 00:04:15.442 that part of the sermon 00:04:15.506 --> 00:04:17.399 can come easy. 00:04:19.529 --> 00:04:21.505 Or how easy it is in our sermon 00:04:21.538 --> 00:04:24.274 writing to default to writing 00:04:24.322 --> 00:04:25.430 about ourselves, 00:04:26.490 --> 00:04:28.150 about our own adventures 00:04:28.230 --> 00:04:30.090 or misadventures, 00:04:31.310 --> 00:04:34.106 ostensibly in the service of a 00:04:34.128 --> 00:04:36.826 sermon illustration which may or 00:04:36.848 --> 00:04:38.698 may not in the end be the best 00:04:38.784 --> 00:04:40.366 or most appropriate that 00:04:40.388 --> 00:04:41.230 we could have found. 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:44.270 But that part of the sermon is 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:46.240 easy to write, isn't it? 00:04:46.690 --> 00:04:47.870 About ourselves. 00:04:50.130 --> 00:04:50.702 In fact, 00:04:50.756 --> 00:04:52.930 we can find ourselves being very 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:54.980 liberal with our word count 00:04:57.270 --> 00:04:59.330 in these parts of the sermon, 00:05:00.230 --> 00:05:03.762 but downright minimalistic and 00:05:03.816 --> 00:05:05.606 even miserly when it comes to 00:05:05.628 --> 00:05:07.798 preaching of Christ 00:05:07.964 --> 00:05:09.990 and him crucified. 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:14.704 When we contemplate the 00:05:14.741 --> 00:05:16.450 suffering of Christ, 00:05:17.780 --> 00:05:19.424 we enter into the fearful 00:05:19.472 --> 00:05:24.212 realization of our own sin and 00:05:24.265 --> 00:05:25.604 what it cost our Lord to 00:05:25.642 --> 00:05:27.220 secure our forgiveness. 00:05:29.080 --> 00:05:31.344 For the Son of Man Himself came 00:05:31.402 --> 00:05:34.409 into the world as one of us, 00:05:35.580 --> 00:05:37.159 into our flesh, 00:05:38.220 --> 00:05:39.960 born of a woman, 00:05:40.380 --> 00:05:44.890 born under the law to redeem us, 00:05:45.900 --> 00:05:50.440 to buy us back with his blood. 00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:55.336 We see his blood at the base of 00:05:55.358 --> 00:05:56.683 the crucifixion when window 00:05:56.732 --> 00:05:57.676 through the legend 00:05:57.788 --> 00:05:58.620 of the Pelican. 00:06:00.490 --> 00:06:04.142 Feeding her own lifeblood to her 00:06:04.196 --> 00:06:05.722 children and thereby 00:06:05.786 --> 00:06:07.390 sacrificing herself 00:06:08.850 --> 00:06:11.534 and reminding us, 00:06:11.732 --> 00:06:12.846 as the writer to the 00:06:12.868 --> 00:06:14.346 Hebrews declared, 00:06:14.538 --> 00:06:16.526 that without the shedding of 00:06:16.548 --> 00:06:18.842 blood there is no forgiveness 00:06:18.906 --> 00:06:19.870 of sins. 00:06:22.760 --> 00:06:24.336 We contemplate Christ's 00:06:24.368 --> 00:06:25.668 suffering in the black 00:06:25.754 --> 00:06:27.500 shard cards of death, 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:31.900 which our Lord enters into and 00:06:31.970 --> 00:06:34.700 through on our behalf. 00:06:35.840 --> 00:06:39.330 For us and one of us. 00:06:40.659 --> 00:06:42.544 We contemplate the cross of 00:06:42.582 --> 00:06:45.452 Christ in the palm branches, 00:06:45.516 --> 00:06:48.656 which symbolize peace and the 00:06:48.678 --> 00:06:50.780 cup of wrath for our sins, 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:52.832 which our Lord drinks freely 00:06:52.896 --> 00:06:54.100 in our behalf. 00:06:55.159 --> 00:06:56.596 Thereby achieving the 00:06:56.618 --> 00:06:58.596 reconciliation of all things 00:06:58.698 --> 00:07:00.468 between God and man, 00:07:00.554 --> 00:07:01.780 as Paul says, 00:07:01.930 --> 00:07:04.516 making peace by the blood 00:07:04.628 --> 00:07:05.880 of his cross. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:11.036 With Christ crucified as the 00:07:11.058 --> 00:07:12.312 center of our faith 00:07:12.376 --> 00:07:13.900 it does not mean that everything 00:07:13.970 --> 00:07:16.140 now shrinks down to Good Friday. 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:18.592 No, 00:07:18.646 --> 00:07:19.824 it means that everything that we 00:07:19.861 --> 00:07:21.024 believe and teach and 00:07:21.062 --> 00:07:22.530 confess and do 00:07:23.620 --> 00:07:25.616 is now viewed through the 00:07:25.638 --> 00:07:29.040 bloodstained lenses of the cross. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:33.172 That now we contemplate the real 00:07:33.226 --> 00:07:35.140 meaning of the incarnation 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:37.220 of Christmas 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:38.980 through the cross. 00:07:40.280 --> 00:07:41.120 Nails, 00:07:41.200 --> 00:07:43.796 spear shall pierce him through 00:07:43.898 --> 00:07:46.250 the cross be born for me, 00:07:46.780 --> 00:07:47.770 for you. 00:07:49.020 --> 00:07:50.424 It means that the one that was 00:07:50.462 --> 00:07:51.816 raised from the dead on the 00:07:51.837 --> 00:07:53.816 third day and who sits at the 00:07:53.837 --> 00:07:55.400 right hand of the Father, 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:00.124 that even today he is and will 00:08:00.162 --> 00:08:01.484 forever remain the 00:08:01.522 --> 00:08:02.990 crucified One. 00:08:04.080 --> 00:08:06.860 Still His dazzling body bears 00:08:07.300 --> 00:08:11.104 cause of endless exultation to 00:08:11.142 --> 00:08:12.880 His ransomed worshippers. 00:08:14.419 --> 00:08:16.635 It means that all of salvation 00:08:16.748 --> 00:08:19.456 history, both BC and AD, 00:08:19.638 --> 00:08:22.563 flows to and from the 00:08:22.602 --> 00:08:24.580 events of the cross. 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:27.172 You can see that theme running 00:08:27.226 --> 00:08:28.884 through every window in this 00:08:28.922 --> 00:08:30.596 space where there is either a 00:08:30.618 --> 00:08:33.370 cross or the wounds of Christ. 00:08:34.380 --> 00:08:36.392 They point us either forward or 00:08:36.446 --> 00:08:38.696 backward to the crucified One, 00:08:38.798 --> 00:08:41.063 to the power of God and 00:08:41.102 --> 00:08:42.890 the wisdom of God. 00:08:45.750 --> 00:08:47.602 And finally it means that 00:08:47.656 --> 00:08:51.300 your life here today 00:08:52.390 --> 00:08:55.486 is bound up forever in the blood 00:08:55.518 --> 00:08:58.318 of Jesus. Through the waters 00:08:58.334 --> 00:08:58.920 of life 00:09:00.170 --> 00:09:02.750 flowing through every window. 00:09:03.090 --> 00:09:05.950 The waters of your baptism. 00:09:07.570 --> 00:09:10.574 For here the flood of His own 00:09:10.612 --> 00:09:13.258 blood now makes us holy, 00:09:13.434 --> 00:09:16.638 right and good before 00:09:16.724 --> 00:09:18.110 our Heavenly Father. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:22.428 Such a cross and such a 00:09:22.434 --> 00:09:24.764 crucified Christ leaves no room 00:09:24.802 --> 00:09:28.352 for boasting. Elsewhere 00:09:28.416 --> 00:09:29.830 Paul put it this way. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:33.040 But far be it from me to boast 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:34.836 except in the cross of our 00:09:34.858 --> 00:09:36.390 Lord Jesus Christ, 00:09:37.160 --> 00:09:38.564 by which the world has 00:09:38.602 --> 00:09:40.410 been crucified to me 00:09:41.180 --> 00:09:43.370 and I to the world. 00:09:46.140 --> 00:09:47.604 In our hymn that follows, 00:09:47.652 --> 00:09:49.844 Isaac Watts contemplates 00:09:49.972 --> 00:09:52.010 the crucified Christ. 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.096 And in a missing stanza, 00:09:55.128 --> 00:09:56.700 which we will include today, 00:09:56.770 --> 00:09:59.964 he further unpacks the death of 00:10:00.002 --> 00:10:02.910 Christ for us and for the world, 00:10:04.560 --> 00:10:06.590 and our death to the world 00:10:07.280 --> 00:10:08.812 through our baptism into 00:10:08.866 --> 00:10:10.750 Christ's death and 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:13.180 resurrection. 00:10:14.319 --> 00:10:16.190 For as you see the Christ 00:10:16.640 --> 00:10:17.600 on Calvary, 00:10:17.640 --> 00:10:21.364 is looking toward the 00:10:21.402 --> 00:10:22.900 resurrection window. 00:10:23.560 --> 00:10:23.924 Who, 00:10:23.962 --> 00:10:25.748 for the joy that was set before 00:10:25.834 --> 00:10:28.000 Him, endured the cross, 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:29.776 despising its shame, 00:10:29.968 --> 00:10:32.468 and is seated at the right hand 00:10:32.634 --> 00:10:34.230 of the throne of God. 00:10:34.920 --> 00:10:36.530 We sing.