2nd Sunday after Pentecost, ??06
In the Name of JESUS!
Sir, we would see JESUS!

Emmanuel (6/18)
2 Corinthians 4:5-12

?¨Harassed, but Not Overcome?Æ 

Holy and merciful God, as Your Spirit enabled St. Paul to trust you both in good times and days of great trial and persecution, draw us into the waiting arms of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ, so that we also may be filled with great joy and peace in believing in all circumstances. Help us likewise to be imitators of our Savior so that the world sees that in You, our Triune God, we have the One thing needful for time and eternity, through Christ, our Lord. Amen. 
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The holy inspired Word of God that forms the basis of my message today is the reading from 2 Corinthians 4:5-12, that was read earlier.
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In the name of Jesus, our only Savior, precious people of God:

St. Paul very soon after his conversion to faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to his dying day had to face much opposition. Those who caused him so much grief were not only unbelievers outside the Church, but also false teachers within the Church. They were ?¨the sheep in wolves clothing,?Æ about which our Savior forewarned His disciples. Paul??s enemies were Satan??s helpers trying to wean folks away from the blessed truth that Jesus alone can save people from their sins and all spiritual enemies. Is this true today? Do we have enemies who want to pull us away from our Savior? One doesn??t have to look very far outside the USA to know that religious radicals overseas are not only harassing, but even killing people who claim to be or even look like they might be Christians.

Within our own country, with the immigrations bringing many folks who come from other cultures and religious persuasions especially into larger metropolitan areas, there are a growing number of people of other faiths trying to woo followers of Christ away from our only Savior. Asheville itself is a hotbed of Eastern religious groups, and among others a modern version of the Gnostic heresy that denies that Jesus Christ became a man true, and Earth Religions including Wiccan witch covens. These heresies are particularly attractive to teenagers and young adults. Like ancient heresies, they all ultimately lead one to trust in what they do, rather than in our Lord, who cared enough to come to earth as our one and only Savior, who loves, forgives and cares for us. 

But are such enemies even lurking within the Church? Of course! Satan still wants to reach out and lead us anyway he can into his dark fold. Look at the many divisions in Christendom even in our own country. The devil certainly does not want us to see the light of Christ. He wants to sabotage our faith in Jesus by having us question on whom we should base our hopes for eternal salvation. Our spiritual enemy wants to turn us into being our own worst enemies.

Satan delights when he sees us doubting whether Jesus really forgives our sins. The old devil also roars with approval when we start hoping that God accepts us for a place in heaven because of what we do, because we think we??re ?¨better?Æ than many other people. That sly old rascal is filled with glee when we think we are going to heaven because we are members of the right church or hold to the correct doctrines. God forbid! No church died for us. Important as it is to reexamine the teaching and practice of Emmanuel Lutheran Church to see that all teaching, preaching, and worship is 100% true to the Scriptures, our doctrine and practice do not save us! It??s Jesus alone who cleanses our souls from sin and brings God??s victory at the time of death ?± the Jesus to whom our church and doctrines point!

St. Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, gives us the response to use to answer the questions and false hopes that Satan puts into our head. He tells us to remember, ?¨What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.?Æ [2 Corinthians 4:5] That statement agrees 100% with Jesus?? words, ?¨I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.?Æ [John 14:6] The only One who can dispel the darkness of sin, death, the devil and all that is evil is our loving Triune God. Thus St. Paul writes in our text today, that God, who at the time of creation caused light to shine out of darkness, now ?¨has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God?Æ ?± WHERE? ?± ?¨in the face of Jesus Christ.?Æ [2 Cor. 4: 6] As the hymn writer aptly wrote, ?¨Jesus! Jesus! only Jesus can my heartfelt longing still. 

As we take seriously the onslaught of the enemies of Jesus Christ against our faith both within and without the Church, with the Holy Spirit??s help we should be like the Bereans, whom Scripture commends because they searched the Bible first before accepting that what Paul taught them was God??s truth. 

Because of the content of today??s sermon text, I want to focus on just one such false teaching that subtly, or not so subtly, can destroy a person??s faith. It is taught and held by too many who claim Jesus as their Savior. Listen carefully to what many television and radio evangelists preach. Many often proclaim that if one has enough faith in God then that individual will never face financial hardship, physical malady or danger. But nothing could be farther from the truth! No human being on earth has perfect faith. Our heavenly Father does not save us or bless us because we have perfect faith. The Lord saves us and blesses us only because Jesus is our perfect Savior. 

As a former institutional chaplain working at first in mental hospitals, I ministered many times with persons who believed with all their hearts that they were going to hell because they sinned against the Lord. They knew they had not reached perfection as their personal preachers mandated. What a tragedy! Their clergy preached damnable heresy, and those poor folk believed them. They knew not our Savior??s readiness to forgive all and any one sin to everyone trusting Him.

Unfortunately, due to the messed up brain chemistry involved in depression, some individuals who trust Christ as Savior get parallel feelings and delusions. God forbid that this happens to you! Only those who have experienced the depths of depression know what that??s like. At times like this we must find special comfort in the sure words of Scripture recorded in 1 John 3:15, ?¨For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart ?ñ?Æ 

Regarding the possibility of our facing painful, difficult days, even perhaps persecution at the hand of unbelievers, recall the words of our Savior, ?¨A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.?Æ [Matthew 10:24] Then Jesus went on to tell His followers that they might face harassment from Christ??s enemies, adding, ?¨And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.?Æ If you do not face hard times, it is God in His wisdom who graciously spares you. However, if your faith is tested by trials, Jesus will indeed give you His grace sufficient for your every need and His strength, which is made perfect in weakness. [2 Corinthians 12:9] 

St. Paul who wrote those very words in the 12th chapter of this same epistle didn??t just dream up this wonderful assurance from our Lord. First of all, as is true of the entire Bible, none other than God the Holy Spirit, who never lies, inspired these words. But, humanly speaking, they also came out of what the world calls ?¨the school of hard knocks.?Æ In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul lists imprisonment, beatings and stoning, and shipwrecks among the many hardships he faced. But Paul was never alone! Jesus was always with him to see him through all his trying days. Thus, he could also confidently face his impending death. 

Paul??s confidence in the face of danger and trial did not just come because He knew Jesus would keep His promise to be with him at all times. He also knew Jesus as his Savior when his faith wavered. He trusted that Jesus also had him in mind when our Lord prayed on the cross, ?¨Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.?Æ Paul, I??m sure, often recalled how Jesus set him free to bring the saving Gospel to the Gentiles when he had started out on the Damascus Road, as yet unconverted, to imprison early Christians. Paul was harassed but not overcome!


So what does all this have to say to each of us today? Well, one way would be to say, I am going to avoid all false teachings both from within myself and from without. We might even add, I??m not going to trust that Jesus will completely make everything ?´peaches and cream?? by the world??s standards during my earthly life.?Æ We could tell others, ?¨I know without a doubt that Jesus will lead me safely through all trials during my earthly life.?Æ But did you hear the ?¨BIG I?Æ in those statements? If we were to do these things, we would be caught in the devil??s trap of trusting ourselves and what we can do. That??s idolatry ?± pushing God out of first place in our hearts! No, rather may the Spirit lead us more faithfully to trust that ?¨GOD is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.?Æ [Psalm 46:9] Only Jesus, the Light of the world, dispels the darkness of our sin and false beliefs even when our faith is weak and shaken. For ?± our sufficiency is of our God, whose love for us is perfect through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In Him we are nit overcome!

Did you really hear what I said? Let me repeat: ?¨GOD is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.?Æ Our sufficiency is of our God, whose love for us is perfect through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Then if harassed, we shall not be overcome!
?¨Lord, give us such a faith as this; 
And then whate??er may come, 
We??ll taste e??en now the hallowed bliss
Of an eternal home.?Æ Amen. 

[William H. Bathurst, alt. 1832: The Lutheran Hymnal, 396, stanza 6] 

To GOD alone be glory!
¬© Rev. Frederick A. Stiemke, D.D., 
Emmanuel Lutheran Church 
Asheville, NC, June 18, 2006