"Time For Our Check Up!" 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

The Tenth Sunday After Trinity                        4-August-2024

Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon Theme: “Time For Our Checkup!” I. Hearing? (Vs.1-2). II. Throat? (Vs.3) III. Heart? (Vs.4-6) IV. Diet and Exercise?(vs.7-11). by Rev. Nathan J. Rusert.

 

I.N.R.I. Have you had your yearly physical? Visited the dentist for a check-up? 1Co 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (20) For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” You are a steward of the body our Triune God entrusted to you from the moment of conception. You are not your own. We believe, teach, and confess: “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.” Our body, life, and all our abilities are gifts from our heavenly Father entrusted to us.

    Our heavenly Father knows us intimately. He numbers the hairs upon our heads. If not even a sparrow cannot die apart from the Father’s good and gracious will - He orders your life for eternity accordingly in love. He cares for your body and life through masks. He created your life through the masks of your parents. He nurtured and cared for you from infancy through the masks of your father and mother. He protects you through the masks of civil government ordained to uphold the rule of natural law punishing evildoers and rewarding those who do good. You are not your own. God the Holy Spirit teaches you in 1 Corinthians 7 that in marriage the husbands body belongs to his wife, and the wife’s body to her husband. Marriage calls us outside of the prison of sinful self gratification - to die to self serving sin and rise to sacrificially love and serve the spouse the Lord has called you to serve and build up in His Word - as He knits you together as one flesh.

      We care for our family and spouse by encouraging them to get yearly check ups to preserve the health of their bodies. Watching the summer Olympics reminds us that our bodies are designed to move not to sit. The Holy Spirit teaches, 1Ti 4:8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” We aren’t to neglect physical health and exercise, nor are we to reject spiritual health and fitness.

    The tenth Sunday after Trinity calls us to repent and be renewed. In August of 586B.C. Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians and Solomon’s Temple was destroyed. In August of 70A.D. Jerusalem fell to the Roman legions and Herod the Great’s Temple was destroyed. God’s children had neglected their spiritual health. Listen, the Lord calls : “Time For Our Checkup!” I. Hearing? (Vs.1-2). II. Throat? (Vs.3) III. Heart? (Vs.4-6) IV. Diet and Exercise?(vs.7-11).

I. The pastor knocked on the door of a member - it was time for a true pastoral visit. The pastor asked for them to unlock their phones and show them the apps consuming their days. He asked them about what Netflix shows they were binging. Then asked to see their devotion books, Bibles, and hymnals. He asked to see how they conducted daily family devotions, to hear them read the Scriptures, and pray together. He had the audacity to ask them why they no longer came to God’s House to hear Christ’s Word. He said: Jer 8:4-8 “... Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?...Why..hold fast to deceit..refuse to return?...relent of...evil, saying, “What have I done?” “How can you say, “We are wise, and the law fo the Lord is with us?”..rejected the Word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?” No wonder the congregation wanted to throw that preacher out, silence him, and stop his voice at all costs. The preacher’s name: Jeremiah, the prophet. Called and sent by God - rejected by the congregation of Israel - until Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple leveled to the ground.

     Pastor Paul cares about his congregation in Corinth. He had preached the Gospel and Christ’s doctrine. God the Holy Spirit had grounded them in the Truth as we confess it in The Apostles’ Creed. Satan, can allow no congregation to possess the Truth in peace. He stirs up our pride, worldly wisdom, lust for power and numbers enticing us to shut our ears to what God has indeed say and trust in his lying flesh pleasing deceptions. How is your hearing? (Vs.1-2) Who whispers the loudest into your ears?

     Satan, the world, and yes, your own sinful flesh lies about “spiritual gifts.” Their deception says, “Look inside, trust your feelings, follow your desires, pursue the path that seems wisest to you!” It is a lie to tear the living Word of the Living and only True God out of your ears. Spiritual gifts are never self-made, neither are they self-chosen. The unholy three lead us away from the Word of God spoken and written for our entire world - the Holy Bible - to trust in dumb idols - “Psa 115:4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. (5) They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; (6) They have ears, but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell; (7) They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; Nor do they mutter through their throat. (8) Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.” Our smart phones and artificial intelligence are dumb idols - they don’t speak - they entertain us giving us what we want as they deaden us to hearing Christ’s Life giving and Holy Spirit sustaining Word. What you listen to is your god? Trust in your own reason and strength - your god is the idol called “ME.” He is deaf, dumb, and mute - you cannot save yourself. Lying words lead to hell.

       Saving faith is the ongoing work of God the Holy Spirit through the Gospel - it isn’t a one and done process. We believe, teach, and confess: I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” Pray the Father for the Holy Spirit daily as your listen to Jesus’ Word. “Lord, open Thou my heart to hear, and through Thy Word to me draw near!” Daily check your hearing!

II. What you hear you speak. A wife may grow frustrated as her husbands lack of listening, wondering when is he going to get a hearing aid? What he repeats back to her is what she just said. How is your throat? What is coming out of your lips.

     The pastor called on His congregational members. No one would listen to what he preached. He wept. He foresaw the day coming when their lovely sanctuary would only be a pile of rubble. They trusted in the building more than the Lord who came there to bring them peace. He admonished them, “My house shall be a house of prayer..” His congregation had turned His Church into a slick business. The pastor’s name: Jesus of Nazareth!

     Repentant forefather of Jesus, David was glad to come into the House of the Lord. He knew his sin filled lustful, deceitful, murderous heart especially after his pastor visited calling him to repent. He prays for blood bought forgiveness, a renewal of the Holy Spirit through Christ’s Word. Then asks for the greatest spiritual gift: Psa 51:15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. What does he bring to church to lay at the altar? Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.”

     What comes out of your throat?(vs.3) Blaspheming the name of Jesus doesn’t only happen when pagans mock the Last Supper. We curse Jesus’ name when we teach or listen to false doctrine - claiming this is “what my Jesus would say...or do.” We curse Jesus name by silence - not willing to confess Him before this evil and sinful generation. We curse Him by claiming His Name on Sunday, then rushing to live like the world the rest of the week. Repent!

      You cannot believe Jesus is Lord - that is He alone has redeemed you, “a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.” The world around is dying, while you shut your throat refusing to tell others of the Savior of sinners! Speak the Gospel to them - they may mock, hate, but the Holy Spirit is at work through His Word to gather His Church poor miserable sinners through your lips telling them this good news!

III. How is your heart? The preacher warned his congregation of religious hucksters peddling medicine unable to heal their wounds saying, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” Cross won, blood bought forgiveness, certified by God the Father through Jesus’ resurrection and sealed to us by the Holy Spirit’s peace - isn’t cheap grace. It doesn’t send us back to live in the prison of past sins. It frees us for God to live in us and we in God!

   What beats in your heart? (Vs.4-6) Self or the Holy Spirit? Do you boast and brag of your gifts...about what you do for Emmanuel? Or do you rejoice to use the various gifts the Holy Spirit has given you for fellow sinners? Do you give serve others as our Lord Jesus of Nazareth served in the days of His flesh? Do you give all glory to Jesus alone the Savior of sinners you follow Him - pouring your life out to serve sinners, pray for your enemies, and seek reconciliation with those who have sinned against you? Do you rejoice that God the Father again has awoken you this morning to see and serve within His creation - in your vocation - as you live to give all that you have and are away - as your Father gives you all in Christ Jesus. Being merciful as your Father is merciful?

      Take your pulse - check your heart daily- Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” Begin and end each day confessing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who have made you His own in Holy Baptism - His Word is Truth, Life, and Salvation!

IV. What are you eating? Do you walk every day? Diet and exercise are part of good stewardship of our physical bodies. How about your soul? What are you feeding on? What are you doing daily? (Vs.7-11). The COVID pandemic exposed the greater epidemic of loneliness. The CDC published a report in March of this year warning: About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. report feeling lonely. About 1 in 4 U.S. adults report not having social and emotional support. Loneliness causes a greater risk of: Heart disease and stroke. Type 2 diabetes. Depression and anxiety. Suicidality and self-harm. Dementia. And an earlier death.” Our God has called us to live life for self following the Satanic lie of autonomy. We are members of Christ’s body, called to care and nurture one another with our various talents. Our old adam loves to serve self - drown him daily in baptismal waters through contrition and repentance - rise to newness of life - reaching out to the lonely speaking Jesus’ Word.

    Don’t be afraid. The more you exercise the easier it becomes. Feed on Jesus’ Word. Be led by the Holy Spirit. Do good that others may glorify your Father in heaven! Amen.