Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of kungsberry Lutheran Church kungsbringer is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota we Proclaim Christ and him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone and now here’s a message from
Pastor Chris Roseboro the holy Gospel According to Saint Luke the fifth chapter [Applause] On one occasion while the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear the word of God he was standing by the lake of genezaret and he saw two boats by the lake but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their Nets getting into one of the boats
Which was Simon’s he asked him to put out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people from the boat and when he had finished speaking he said to Simon put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch Simon
Answered Master we have toiled all night and took nothing but at your word I will let down the Nets and when they had done this they enclosed a large number of fish and their Nets were breaking they signaled to their Partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came
And filled both the boats so that they began to sink but when Simon Peter saw it he fell down and Jesus’s knees saying depart from me for I am a sinful Man O Lord for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish
That they had taken and so also were James and John son of Zebedee who were partners with Simon and Jesus said to Simon do not be afraid from now on you will be catching men and when they had brought their boats to land they left everything and they followed him this is
The gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus Amen all right hear the words of our epistle text Paul says these very important words the word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing now we’re going to just hit the straight on perishing there are
People who are perishing yes they’re literally are people who are perishing I know this is not a popular message nowadays this is not something that people want to hear but the word is very clear on this and you’re going to know that God himself has chosen a very
Foolish message by the world’s standards the gospel itself the good news that Christ is bled and died for our sins risen from the grave victoriously on the third day bodily and ascended into heaven so that we can be Sanctified Justified made right with God and reconcile that this is folly to the
World and because it is so to them they are indeed perishing for there is salvation outside of Christ for nobody there is only salvation found in him that being the case we must consider the word of our epistle texts in this context because you’ll know in our day
And age people who call themselves and identify as Christians who confess Christ as their Savior and Lord they are loathed to well suffer the shame of being a Christian they want to be popular they want to be liked by the world they don’t like it when Facebook puts him in jail
This is not going to stop until Christ returns and so we’re going to note as we listen to our epistle text that we must bear up under the scorn of the world the people who are perishing they are going to continue to mock they are going to
Continue to persecute they are going to continue to make us suffer and that being the case we must all the more preach the good news of Christ and him crucified for their sins as well as yours and mine I like being Lutheran rather than reformed because we get to
Actually say that Christ is bled and died for everybody the reform sit there and go well I don’t know if Jesus really died for you and that’s a problem but that being the case so the word of the Cross is falling to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved
The the word of the cross the gospel is the power of God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the Discerning I will thwart and here’s where the 10 temptation is the first commandment is very clear we shall have no other gods
And being the subject and the object of people’s scorn well it’s easy for us to be tempted along the lines to adopt the world’s way of thinking this will get us nowhere but hell that being the case you’re going to note that God has set this up all on purpose
Because through the Folly of the Cross he is destroying the wisdom and the discernment of the wise at least the people who call themselves wise think about how the world operates in the world we live in today what do people seek Fame Fortune power they seek influence affluence and they
Exercise that well strongly but this is not what we are called to as Christians you’ll note that it says in Scripture that Jesus Christ although he was by Nature God did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped instead he humbled himself taking on the form of
A slave and he was obedient to the point of death even death on a cross that being the case the way the world operates is completely the opposite of how God operates think of it this way the world that you live in everything because of sin is backwards upside down
And inside out I remember when I was a kid laying on my couch one day and and looking up at the ceiling of my living room and thinking wouldn’t it be cool if like my house was upside down I could be walking on the on the ceiling right well
The world that we live in we are all walking on the ceiling people who think that up is the right direction to go do not understand that Christ makes it clear that the greatest Among Us is the servant of all the people who are seeking to attain Heights are going the
Wrong way instead Christ calls us and all men to repent to Humble themselves to deny themselves take up their cross and follow him and this is not what the world wants to hear all right so Paul then asks a question so where is the one who is wise
Where’s the Scribe where is the debater of this age and you’ll know that every age of mankind always has like one fellow or a few fellows that they look to that are the ones who are the thought leaders who are kind of leading the way
And I would argue in our day you would have post-modern philosophers who kind of fill that role or even worse guys like Richard Dawkins in his book The God Delusion taking swipes constantly at those who believe and trust in God but you’ll note God has made the made has
Not God made foolish the wisdom of the world indeed he has for since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom it pleased God through the Folly of what we preached to save those who believe and here we need to note something in the Greek world that
The Greco-Roman world that Paul wrote this epistle in wisdom was a loaded word it had theological and philosophical overtones and undertones when you invoke Sophia that’s the Greek word itself for some who are involved in kind of pagan gnosticism wisdom is thought to have well a divine feminine aspect to it
There’s there’s overtones of this what’s going on and Paul here is saying yeah that’s not going to get you anywhere and you’ll note that the world we live in today people want to coexist they want to basically say listen all all religions are true all roads
Lead to God it doesn’t matter what you believe it doesn’t matter what you confess in fact you Christians are bigoted you’re arrogant how dare you say that Jesus is the only way you’re kind of suspicious we might need to call the authorities and have them look in to see
Whether or not you’re abusing your children you see how this works right but you’ll know God knows what he’s doing and the wisdom of the world does not lead to Christ and him crucified for our sins in fact it is only the New Testament Church only those who have the
Full counsel of the word of God that they are the ones who see that there is good news for them the Old Testament alludes to it the New Testament Bears it out but you will find it in no philosopher you will find it in no other religion you cannot find the gospel in
Islam or Buddhism or Jainism or any form of initiatic gnosticism you can’t find it at all in fact God has chosen foolishness to all of those systems to basically overthrow their wisdom and establish his so Paul says it pleased God through the Folly of what we preach
To save those who believe Jews they demand signs so does Bethel Greeks they seek wisdom yeah they do but we we preach Christ crucified this is a stumbling block for Jews and Folly to Gentiles in fact you’re going to hear this in just a little bit that Paul
Makes it clear that the only thing he preaches is Christ and him crucified for our sins I remember growing up in the 70s and 80s there was a place that my parents would take me to when I got to be junior high age and it was a place
Called skate Junction all right this is where a was a skating rink not ice skating roller skating all right and of course a lot of the guys my age they would like to go to skate Junction in order to well to meet chicks now it never worked out for me that way because
At that time in my life I was scrawny and nerdy now I’m just nerdy but all of that being said I remember there were all kinds of different skating things that they would do they would have they would have couples skates they would have times when people everybody on the
Floor was required to skate backwards I could never do it I never figured out how to skate backwards in fact I look kind of like an old person in a walker just going backwards right but there was this thing called an all skate and when the allscape would come up all right it
Usually would be announced with this song are you ready My Sharona right that’s by the neck can you name another song by the neck by the way you know you guys and no in fact we have a term for this kind of band you know we call them
One hit wonders right and here’s what Christianity is Christianity is the Eternal one-hit wonder we have a good news gospel to Proclaim to announce to the world that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and not counting their trespasses against them that Jesus bore their sins and your your
Sins and mine in his body on the cross so that we can be forgiven and pardon reconciled and given an inheritance for free and once we say that somebody will say well what else have you got well let me tell you about the blood of Jesus again
And you’ll know the Christian church is called to preach this gospel and nothing else if we do not give the world and ourselves Christ and him crucified for our sins we give them nothing there is nothing else the Christian church is the ultimate one-hit wonder we have one song
To sing one gospel to Proclaim and that is a stumbling block to Jews it’s Folly to Gentiles but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ is the power of God and he is the wisdom of God for the foolishness of God then is wiser
Than men the weakness of God is stronger than men and here we keep hearing this theme that God has hidden our Salvation in a message that is intentionally designed to be foolish to the world you guys remember the movie Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade right I remember it
Vaguely I’ve only seen it a hundred times it’s so it’s it’s not quite that fresh in my memory but all that being said it’s the story of the quest for the Holy Grail right and once they kind of get through all of the the final bits and they’re finally in the room where
Well they’ve got to solve the last puzzle they enter a room where a crusader from the actual Crusades who’s been living off of the water of the Holy Grail every time he drinks it he continues to live and he’s really ancient really old a few hundred years
Old it’s been a while since the Crusades they get into the room and there’s a table full of Grails and the only instructions are to Choose Wisely of course one of the bad guys he chooses poorly he he goes for one of these chalices that’s made of gold that
Has rubies and and gems in it and he says this looks like the cup of the king of kings and he drinks some water and he dies and in glorious and horrible death and of course the Crusader says well he chose poorly and Indiana Jones kind of thinking through the last puzzle he
Looks for the most ugly nondescript humble looking cup that he can find that’s the one he pulls and says this is the one that looks like the cup of a carpenter the gospel’s a lot like that people expect that religion is supposed to be one of these things that’s supposed to
Really sparkle and have have us sparkling and making us look really like shiny pennies and that the message that we preach would somehow be really appealing to the world have you ever noticed that there’s always fellows as they come up through the generations they go through their childhood get into
Their teens get off to college and they come up with this most original idea the church is outdated you think right and so they set off to go and fix that and they end up making everything worse you see we have been given the good news in a foolish package don’t let the
Humbleness of this message fool you it is the glory of God to forgive and pardon iniquity so to those who are called this foolish message it is the power of God and it is the wisdom of God the foolishes the foolishness of God then is wiser than
Men and the weakness of God is stronger than men and Paul goes on to say this that consider your calling Brothers not many of you were wise according to worldly standards not many of you were powerful not many of you were of noble birth every time I read this section of
Scripture I’m reminded of the fact that I’ve been told that on my father’s grandfather’s side of the family that there were members of the Polish Mafia not royalty sketchy sketchy I’m sus as they like to say nowadays right there I’ve got suspect relatives so definitely not of noble birth but see here’s the
Thing God has chosen what is foolish in the world in order to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world in order to shame the strong God chose what is low and despised in the world even the things that are not in order to bring to
Nothing the things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God and here’s where we have to understand this the reason why God chose something foolish something as foolish as the gospel itself which the world derides and people scoff at is to make
It so that those who are saved have nothing to boast about before God could you imagine if some philosopher had locked himself up on the Isle of Patmos and determined that he was going to ponder the mysteries of the universe and finally crack the code and figured it
Out that when he stood before for God God would have to go well done wait good job right to you be all the glory but that’s not how it works you see the one who exalts himself must be humble and so God has chosen these humble
Things in order to shame the wise to bring down the strong because you’ll note that everybody who believes and trusts in Christ properly recognizes that they are sinners that the only thing that they have contributed to their salvation is a sin that made it necessary for them to be saved in the
First place so note God through this foolish message is shaming all of us so that none of us can boast in the presence of God instead we who boast then let us boast in the Lord let us boast in the great salvation that he has
Given to us and Paul says when I came to you Brothers I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or with wisdom and I decided to know nothing among you except for Christ and him crucified nothing in fact I remember years ago
Posting this very verse on Twitter which by the way is a cesspool it just really is I posted this verse on Twitter and said something glowing about I thought it was just brilliant that I decided to know nothing among you except for Jesus Christ and him crucified and said we
Need to embrace this this passage and what this passage is saying and I was shouted out on Twitter there’s there’s more to the Bible than Christ and him crucified no there really isn’t I don’t think you’re reading it right no well what about getting your kids to obey
What about you know what about this that and the other thing no no then I there’s nothing except for Christ’s name crucified and they will accuse you of twisting God’s word at this point but was Paul Twisted in God’s word no so brothers and sisters
Let us not despair let us not give in to The Temptations of the world our sinful flesh and even of the devil to exchange this one and only good news that we have been given the good news that gives us justification salvation and eternal life
All is a gift because of what Christ has done let us not Despair and exchange this foolish message that we’ve been given for one that the world will like because in so doing we will sacrifice the true gospel for a false one and when we then perceive and believe in our
Hearts that the message of the cross the word of the Cross is folly we too then would join those who are perishing but today I believe that you are here because you believe the this foolish message that Christ has bled and died for your sins and we rather than
Perishing we have before us eternal life the face of our savior the Saints who have gone before us to be back in fellowship with them and see them face to face in a World Without End all because Christ has reconciled us to the father by bleeding and dying for
Your sins and mine on of all things across outside of the Gates of Jerusalem all so that we can be forgiven and pardon so let us despair of the world’s wisdom and embrace this Folly not to our shame but to the glory of Christ in the name of Jesus Amen
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