Paul begins our text by saying, Not that I have already obtained this (v. 12). What is the “this”? Knowing the “this” Paul is referring to is key to understanding this text. If we back up just one verse before our text, Paul says that the goal of having faith in Jesus is the hope that in some way I may arrive at the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:11) That is Paul’s destination! That is Paul’s hope! That is Paul’s arrival point! The resurrection!
The father’s have eaten sour grapes and their sons’ teeth are set on edge. (v. 2) Can you picture what that means? That means that a dad bites into a sour grape and his son puckers and winces because it is so sour. It was a way of saying that children suffer for their parents’ sins.
The last will be first, and the first last. (v. 16) These are the last words of our text for this morning. So, fittingly, we are going to consider them first. The last will be first, and the first last. Just exactly what does that mean? Many people have puzzled over its meaning. Bible commentators have written much trying to explain it. But what really does it mean?
The third patriarch was gathered to his people. Jacob was dead. He had lived long enough to see his beloved Joseph in Egypt. We remember the story. Joseph’s brothers hated him. We remember the day Joseph’s brother’s had thrown Joseph into a water cistern. They cooly ate their lunch while Joseph cried and begged for help. They did finally pull Joseph out, so they could sell their brother to a traveling band of Midianites who took Joseph to Egypt.
Have any of you ever had to wear a uniform? Maybe it was a team uniform. Maybe as part of your vocation you wore, or wear, a uniform, maybe a soldier’s uniform, or medical scrubs, or a shirt with a company logo. Did you know there is a lot of psychology that lies behind the wearing of uniforms? Uniforms are to make a person simultaneously different and the same. Here’s what that means. Whenever you see a uniformed person by themselves, you immediately see them as different. Have you ever been in a grocery store and you see someone there in a military uniform? They stand out; they are different. However, a uniformed person standing with other uniformed people is “the same.”
Today is the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Guest Pastor Jerry Ewings is leading our worship today. Pastor Ewings served at Lord of Love from 2006 – 2017 and is currently a Christian Giving Counselor. He and his wife Lori live in Lake Mills.
In preparation for today’s sermon, I “googled” this question: “Who is Jesus?” In .44 seconds Google had 1,770,000,000 answers to that question. To add perspective, “Who is Abraham Lincoln?” got 103,000,000. For further perspective, “Who is Taylor Swift?” got 722,000,000, which was 7x that of Abraham Lincoln! And just for a little further perspective, a search of “Who is Bob Degnan?” got 2,040,000 results.
The apostle Paul once had it out with St. Peter. It’s true. It happened in the city of Antioch. Paul relates the incident in Galatians 2. Paul was doing mission work in the city of Antioch and Peter came to visit. While there, Peter freely ate and drank with the non-Jewish, Gentile converts to Christianity. UNTIL a delegation came from the church in Jerusalem. These were “old club” Jewish Christians.
In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,
Recently I was reading about a man who had spent the larger part of his life searching. He was searching for meaning. He was searching for contentment. He was searching for peace. He had read the “sacred writings” of many religions. And then he began to read the Bible. And this was his comment about the Bible. “I finally found a book that understands me!” That’s an interesting comment. He didn’t say that he understands the Bible, but that the Bible understands him.
I spent this past week at Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw, Michigan at the 67th biennial convention of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. It’s always an honor and privilege to attend as a delegate. One of the comments that delegates frequently make about convention is how well they feed us. And that is no small thing!
