Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2007 : April 22, 2007

Theme: Partnership in the Gospel

Church year occasion: Walking Together Sunday

In 1904 the World's Fair was held in St. Louis, and people were ready to look at the latest gadgets and gizmos, including the one-year-old airplane and the radio. It was a hot summer, so people were searching the fair for something to help them cool off. Arnold Fornachou had just what they were looking for -- ice cream. People lined up for what seemed like miles to get his ice cream. But there was a problem. He didn't have enough paper bowls to put it in, so he was forced to wash a few porcelain bowls over and over again. It was taking too long, and the people were getting tired of waiting.

Next to Arnold's ice cream booth was the booth of a pastry chef by the name of Ernest Hamwi. He was making a Persian wafer dessert called zalabia, but he couldn't sell any zalabia if his life depended on it. He noticed the problem Arnold was having, so he took some warm zalabia, rolled it into a cone shape and showed Arnold how it could hold a scoop of ice cream. On that hot day during the World's Fair, the ice cream cone was born because a partnership was formed.

We use partnerships every day. A DVD is useless if you don't have a computer or DVD player to play it on. You might own an antique armchair dating to the 1700s and made by a master craftsman from Boston that the Antique Roadshow tells you is worth $100,000, but it won't get you $10 if you don't have someone who wants to buy it. Most of you kids have seen Finding Nemo. Toward the end of the movie, Nemo and hundreds of other fish were caught in a net. If they tried to get out of the net by themselves, they wouldn't get out. What was the only way the fish could get out? They had to join together and swim downward together. That's how they broke the net and swam away. Their partnership saved their lives.

You and I as Christians are privileged to be partners in the greatest partnership of all -- the kingdom of God. The Apostle Paul tells us about that partnership that we share in the gospel. It brought him joy. That is very evident as he says, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel."

From how upbeat and joyous Paul is throughout his letter, you might expect he's on a beach somewhere enjoying a nice relaxing vacation. But that wasn't the case. He was imprisoned in Rome under what we would call "house arrest." Recently Martha Stewart was under house arrest for the insider trading she was involved in, but it was pretty tame. In Paul's day, someone under "house arrest" was chained to a Roman soldier 24/7. Can you imagine what that would be like! Granted it was perhaps better than being in a dungeon, but those Roman soldiers could be surly and sadistic. "House arrest" was not something to desire. Yet Paul writes with joy and thanksgiving.

That joy and thanksgiving shine forth in his memories as he remembers what happened in the city of Philippi. He could have said, "Oh, I remember Philippi alright. I remember we could hardly find any religious people there at all. And then there was that demon-possessed slave girl who harassed us. I remember how the townspeople arrested us, stripped and beat us, put us in chains and threw us into that dark and dirty dungeon. Oh yes, I remember Philippi. And I'll never go back there again."

But, no, his thoughts were, "I thank my God every time I remember you...and I pray with joy." What was he remembering about this small congregation in Philippi? Paul is saying, "I remember Lydia and how she and all her household became Christians, and then she insisted we stay at her house. I remember casting a demon out of a slave girl and seeing her set free. I remember praying and singing hymns with Silas while the other prisoners listened. I remember the Philippian jailer and his family, and all those other people who are now followers of Jesus. And when I remember, I thank God for you." The Apostle recognized the hand of God in his gospel ministry, and he focused on the joy it gave him.

What comes to mind when we think of one another? Do we carry around in our memory bank the person who disagreed with us in a meeting? Do we remember the people who complain about this or that, and which often causes us to do the same? Do we think of how we have to spend another night at a meeting or knocking on doors or setting up for church every Sunday when we could think of a thousand places we'd rather be? When we think of our synod on this Walking Together Sunday, is our view, "They must want something from us again?" Those kinds of memories and attitudes will tear apart a congregation and synod, and it's difficult to see any joy there.

What a different atmosphere and attitude pervades our family of believers when we remember the partnership in the gospel with which God has blessed us. We all are on equal standing before the Lord -- sinners forgiven of our dreadful sins by the grace of God in Jesus. We believe in the same Savior; we live in the same peace and forgiveness; we possess the same hope of heaven. We share in the blessings of the gospel. That is a partnership in the gospel. What joy we have then when we gather together for worship and encourage one another and are encouraged by one another, knowing that we stand on the power of the living and active Word of God, and we stand together with our brothers and sisters in the Wisconsin Synod.

And that's not all. We don't just have joy for this life, but for another life to come. Paul says that he was "confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." God began a good work in us when he called us to believe in Jesus and gave us eternal life and spiritual life right now. At the same time, he connected us to himself and to each other through faith. But we have such powerful enemies -- our sinful flesh that wants to live for the many sinful pleasures available to us, the world that wants to distract us from our goal of heaven, and Satan himself who would like nothing better than for us to find joy in anything other than Jesus and service to him. How can we hope to hold on to our faith? How can we last until eternity dawns? How can we be sure we will not let go of our faith and end up losing the salvation we have in Jesus and are enjoying today? The key is realizing that it's not by our strength that we keep holding on to God -- he's holding on to us, and he won't let go. He's promised that nothing can snatch us out of his hand. When you ride a roller coaster, how much do you appreciate the harness that holds you in to your seat? Would you go on Raging Bull at Great America if your only hope of making it to the end of the ride was how well you could hold on? No, you make it to the end of the ride because the harness holds you in safe. That's how our faith works as well. We'd stand no chance of keeping our faith if it depended on our strength. Thank God that he is the one holding on to us. He will carry our faith on to completion. The harness he uses is the gospel. The more we study and learn his Word and use his sacrament, the stronger our faith becomes and the stronger hold our God has on us.

Our partnership in the gospel is not only having a share in the blessings of the gospel, but also sharing the gospel and its blessings with others. What a blessing it is to have partners with which to do that! As partners in the gospel, we are joined together at Living Word. We share our faith with others and invite them to hear the great news of Jesus as well. We use our talents to worship our God, to help each other grow in the faith, and to serve each other. We also join our offerings together to tell others about Jesus. Some day, God-willing, we plan on having a house of prayer of our own as our base of operations to reach out into this community. Right now it is in a public school gymnasium, and God has blessed us so much here. When Paul started his ministry in Philippi, his base for operations was the house of a convert named Lydia. Four years ago we started in a basement on Lawnsdale Road. From Philippi and elsewhere, the gospel of Jesus has been preached and taught, going throughout the entire world. And today we continue to spread the message of hope and joy in Jesus as we are partners at Living Word and in a church body called the Wisconsin Synod. We are training pastors and teachers and laypeople and sending them with the gospel to places we could never go as individuals or even as a congregation.

From a worldly viewpoint, Paul was in a pretty crummy situation. But from the viewpoint of a Christian, he was exactly where he wanted to be -- chained to a smelly and surly Roman soldier but still rejoicing that he had partners in the gospel. I don't see any of you this morning being chained to a smelly and surly Roman soldier, but you have 21st century problems. But no matter how great your personal problems, you have an inexpressible joy in the gospel, as partners with Jesus and your fellow Christians in the gospel. What a great partnership we have in the gospel as Wisconsin Synod Lutherans -- a great partnership also for sharing the gospel with others! Amen.