First Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:4a
1In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. 14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights — the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. 24And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds — livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. 4aThese are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created …
Psalm 8
1O Lord our Lord, how exalted is your Name in all the world! 2Out of the mouths of infants and children your majesty is praised above the heavens. 3You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, to quell the enemy and the avenger. 4When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their courses, 5What is man that you should be mindful of him? the son of man that you should seek him out? 6You have made him but little lower than the angels; you adorn him with glory and honor; 7You give him mastery over the works of your hands; you put all things under his feet: 8All sheep and oxen, even the wild beasts of the field, 9The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea. 10O Lord our Lord, how exalted is your name in all the world!
Second Reading: Acts 2:14a, 22-36
14aPeter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them:
22“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know — 23this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ 29Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ 36Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
16The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
John 1:1-6
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Faith, Christian vs. Discipleship
One of the things pastors have the option of, is deviating from the Lectionary and using additional Bible passages. This is an option I decided to take advantage of and instead of printing the Matthew 28 reading assigned for today, I chose instead to include the prologue to St. John’s gospel. My reason for doing this is simple: a foundational part of our understanding of the Triune God we worship, begins right here in the New Testament.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him…” How can we even begin to comprehend our Triune God, let alone His creative work, until we accept in faith that God’s Word, Jesus, has always been with God, and has been integral to God’s work from the beginning. The same is true with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has been, and will always be, part of the Holy Trinity as we see here in the second verse of Genesis chapter 1: “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Then starting in verse 3, this is where knowing and understanding our St. John passage becomes important: ““And God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.” All things were created through Jesus the Son.
Now I bet very few of you have ever stopped, while reading this passage, and asked yourself, wait a minute, in St. John’s prologue we read, “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made (vs. 3). Where then did the formless and void earth come from, and where did these waters come from? Again, this is the importance of understanding the opening verses of St. John’s gospel. All this came into being when God spoke and created through His Word. This is also a matter of accepting some things in faith.
Genesis wasn’t written as a scientific book, it was written to inform us that everything in this universe, visible and invisible, was created by an intelligent and compassionate God. We’re not here by circumstance, as some theorize, we’re here because God designed all things, including us, with a purpose in mind. I am not here by some cosmic accident, nor am I here because of random events. You and I, and everything that exists outside of God, were called into being for a reason. Yet there are those who cannot accept the fact of creation, and have chosen instead to place their faith in the random acts of an explosion and pure happenstance. I, for one, find it so much easier to believe in an intelligent God, than a series of converging events. The point I’m making is that at the end of the day, we must place our faith in something; God, or evolutionary science, the choice is ours.
Now at this point in this sermon, I’m betting that the vast majority of you are sitting there saying, we know all this, and we choose to believe that God did indeed create and that we’re here because God wanted us to be. We understand that we’re here for three main reasons and that God created us in His image, first, to fulfil His command to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and to have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (vs. 28.) Then the second reason comes in chapter 2 verse 15, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work and keep it.” We were created to carefully manage and take care of what God has created.
The third reason we were created comes in chapter 3 verse 8; “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” We were created to have a relationship with God. From these opening chapters of Genesis, we understand that God created us with the purpose of creating families, taking care of what He created, and to be in a relationship with God. God made us and wants to be with us. This is the way God intended it from the beginning. The question is, how have we responded to God’s creating acts?
As we see in Genesis chapter 3, we too often listen to the wrong voices, do everything we can to blames others, or explain away our actions, and our desire is to serve ourselves instead of God. Thus, we have abused God’s good creation and we have done our best to be our own little gods. The bottom line is that satan sowed the seeds of doubt and sin entered the world, and our self-centeredness has corrupted God’s work. The problem is, satan continues to sow those same seeds of doubt and this is why we need to understand and reinforce our belief in the Holy Trinity. But this isn’t something that happens in a single sermon, it comes through a lifetime of prayer and study. One must commit to being a true disciple of Jesus to be able to withstand the false teachings and doubt the devil tries to fill our hearts with. This realization fostered an interesting conversation during our weekly pericope study on Monday.
This past week, as some of the pastors and I were going over the readings for this week, a question was raised within the group: is there a difference between being a Christian and being a disciple? On the surface this seems to be an absurd question. But think about it. As I pondered and discussed this question further, I’ve concluded, that the answer is a resounding yes. There is a big difference between being a “Christian” and I place that word in quotes, and being a disciple.
According to dictionary, a Christian is one who, “relates to or professes Christianity or its teachings. The word disciple is defined as, “a follower or student of a teacher, leader, or philosopher.” On the surface the distinction may seem subtle. But when you take this in the greater context of society, the difference between the two is very clear.
While the definition of the word disciple has remained relatively unchanged by society over the past few centuries, how society defines the word Christian has come to mean something totally different. If you were to ask 100 people on the street today, they would define a Christian by what you are not. If you’re a Christian, then you’re not an atheist, a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a satan worshiper, and so forth. Most people simply define a Christian as one who believes there is a God and that we should be basically good, and that a few of the moral commandments, so long as they don’t infringe on societal norms, should be observed. Basically, being defined as a Christian means to admit there is a God and that we should lead a decent life, little else is important.
However, a disciple is one who devotes themselves to the teachings and ways of Jesus. Recall the two definitions, Christian is simply one who “relates to or professes Christianity or its teachings” while a disciple is “a follower or student of a teacher, leader.” For me there’s a big difference, and quite frankly, we don’t need any more Christians in the Church. What we do need, is more people willing to devote themselves to learning and living out the teachings of God. Jesus said, “if you love me you will keep my commands” (John 14:5). This verse is part of Jesus’ final discourse in which He promises to send the Holy Spirit and instructs them to love one another.
Being a disciple is more than simply a confession; discipleship is living a life that is pleasing to God. It’s about loving God above all else and loving your neighbor as yourself. This is why understanding who God is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is so important. And this is why we need to know and understand what the ancient documents of the Church teach. In a few minutes, after the Hymn of the Day, we’ll stand and profess our faith in our Triune God through the words of the Athanasian Creed.
We only use this creed on this Sunday each year because of its length, but that doesn’t diminish its importance in teaching us what we need to know about the Trinity. And this too is important in how we fulfil Jesus’ last earthly command to go to all the world, make disciples, not just Christians, baptize and teach them all that Jesus commanded. We all know this passage as the Great Commission. I can’t say it enough, this is why understanding who God is, what we confess, what we believe, and what we teach, is so very important. How can we make disciples if we aren’t one ourselves? How can we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, if we don’t know who they are? And how can we teach, if we haven’t spent time learning ourselves?
We know there are plenty of Christians in the church, the question is, are there any disciples in our churches? This question gets to the heart of Christ’s great commission. Jesus didn’t charge His people to make converts, He said go and make disciples. Our concern today shouldn’t be to simply grow the church in numbers; the greater concern is to grow the church in depth. We must commit ourselves to being students of Jesus.
And as disciples of Christ, we must have a relationship that is growing, and learning, and serving. We must do more than simply take up space in a pew. We need to work hard to understand what the gospel is all about. We must then struggle to bring those Christian insights to bear in the places where we work and in the way we spend our time and money. As I’ve said many times, this is a lifelong process.
Being a disciple means we must work at fulfilling the Great Commission with intentionality. Theologian Douglas John Hall who taught theology in Toronto once said, “It used to be, that somebody could pick up Christian odors in the air, and that would be enough to shape their lives. These days, according to the research, white Westerners cease to be Christian at a rate of 7,600 per day.” For us to be disciples, in this day and age, it will take something more than merely having our names on a list on a church’s registry. Being a disciple is more than being a church member. Jesus said Go! Baptize, make disciples, and teach all nations all that I have commanded you. And all nations include this nation.
This is more than a job for the Evangelism Committee. This goes beyond the work of the Christian Education Committee. We must become an Evangelizing congregation, you know like our name says, Bethel Evangelical Lutheran church. It’s right there in this congregation’s name. An Evangelizing church is a learning church; a church that grows in its love for Jesus just as much as it grows in its love for its neighbor; it all goes hand in hand.
Consider this. It’s something I know I haven’t emphasized enough. The clue for all of this is the place where Jesus met His disciples, right before He returned to the Father. It’s the location where He gave them the Great Commission. In Matthew 28 verse 16, we read, “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.” And what mountain was that? It’s the mountain where we’ve been before – the Sermon on the Mount, mountain. Jesus gathered the disciples where He gathered them together and began to teach them. Remember the lessons?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You are the salt of the earth. Love your enemies. Be complete as your heavenly Father is complete. Do not store up treasures on earth. Seek first the kingdom of God. Enter through the narrow gate. The good person brings good things out of a good treasure. Whoever gives a cup of cold water to these little ones will not lose their reward. Humble yourself like a little child. Pick up your cross and follow me. Forgive one another seventy times seven. Just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me. This is where disciples are made: by sitting at the feet of the teacher.
Jesus said to all who are baptized, “You have to learn everything I have commanded you, then live everything I have taught, and finally teach that to others.” This is His commission, and it’s going to take us a lifetime of constant effort to get it right. There isn’t time for slacking off. Jesus also gave us a blessing that was also a warning. He said, “Remember, I am with you to the end of the age.”
Jesus is telling us that He is right here, in the middle worship. He’s here, proclaimed and present, in word and sacrament. He’s with us in the love that we share and the concern that we visibly offer to one another. He’s with us as we grow into the fullness of what it means to love God and neighbor. He is with us until we fully discover just how much God loves the world.
Emmanuel, God with us, just as the angel promised at Christmas. Just as He Himself declared after Easter; Jesus, God’s Son, is with us. His continuing work, through the Holy Spirit, is to make us into the kind of people who share God’s love and justice with every person under heaven, to the point that they, too, will share that love and justice with others. This is the meaning of discipleship and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Amen