Trinity Blog

The video following the Sermon, “Captivate Us”, will only play in YouTube. To get past this video and to the Communion click on the icon in the upper right that looks like three lines and an arrow. This will show the playlist. Scroll down to video #9 called Communion and select it. The rest of the service will play normally.

Galatians 2:15-21

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. ¹⁷ But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; ²⁰ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

With the NFL playoffs nearly over, the coaching exodus has begun, and for a few teams already over.  Whether a head coach, a coordinator, a position coach, or a general manager, positions are vacated and then filled by new people.  Brown’s fans have much to be excited about in the management department because we did so well, the moving of coaches does not need to take place this year.  But other organizations are not so fortunate, and their fans must endure the moving around of coaches and systems and players.

Just as players and coaches move from positions to positions, so too is there a displacement in the life of every Christian.  As Paul writes, it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.  The head coach moves from one team to another; the place normally held by “I” has now become the place of “Christ.”  No longer is it “I” but is now “Christ.”  For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Since we have been crucified with Christ, we are now displaced from being gods and lords over our entire existence and now Christ has taken our place.  No longer “I”, but “Christ.” 

This displacement is everything.  Since we have traded places with Christ, we are now made right or justified.  But as Paul reminds us, we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.  The Law is a great many things, but the law is for our purposes “us” taking the place of God.  I do, I do not.  We neither have the inclination to do as God does, nor can do as God does.  So perhaps the entire purpose of the Law is to wake us up to the idea that we are not and cannot be God.  We need displaced and that displacement is the trading of places with Christ.  I, yet not I but Christ. 

But this displacement hurts.  Look at the following chart and see what must change if Christ takes our place.

            Self-Created                                                                Christ-Created

            Self-Provided                                                              Christ-Provided

            Self-Legislated                                                            Christ-Legislated

            Self-Judged                                                                 Christ-Judged

            Self-Sanctified                                                            Christ-Sanctified

            Self-Atoned                                                                Christ-Atoned

            Self-Discipled                                                             Christ-Discipled

            Self-Ruled                                                                   Christ-Ruled

            Self-Determined                                                         Christ-Determined

            Self-Appointed                                                           Christ-Appointed

I could add another hundred ways Christ needs to displace us, but space and time is limited.  The point is that this being displaced in our lives is painful, fearful, and confusing.  The temptation will always be that when the displacement starts to happen, the pain, fear and confusion will always challenge us to remain in control and prevent Christ from becoming who he really is.  We clamp down trying to keep our place and forbid and work against Christ taking it. 

The process becomes even more difficult, as if this were not enough, to have Christ take our place, but the world wants to displace Christ out from everything and to put themselves in his place.  Governments displace Christ as Legislator, Executor and Judge.  Corporations displace Christ as Provider and Sanctifier.  Philosophies displace Christ as Creator and Wisdom.  Facebook and Twitter displace Christ as Censor and Moral Compass.  As if the struggle was not difficult enough to allow Christ to displace us as God and Lord, the world is actively struggling to displace Christ as God and Lord and putting themselves in his place. 

Perhaps this then illumines why Paul was so adamant that we live a live of faith in Christ, or perhaps a better translation of the Greek is we live a live by the faithfulness of Christ.  If not for Christ and his greater power than the World and Governments and Corporation and Philosophies and Big Tech and you and me, then Christ would never be able to displace us as God and Lord.  If Christ’s rivals and adversaries were equal to him in power than Christ is impotent to resist them.  But precisely because Christ is over all things, then Christ has no rival, that includes you.  Christ can displace us, and no one can truly displace Christ.  Alleluia. 

So, what needs displaced in you?  Christ creating you, Christ providing for you, Christ determining you, Christ atoning for you, Christ ruling you.  Is Christ your Lord and God yet?  If the answer is not yet, then we have more and more things to surrender to Christ, we have more and more need for a life of faith in Christ.  The good news of the Gospel is that our faithfulness in Christ has help in the form of the faithfulness of Christ in our place.  If he lives in us, then yes, we can.  That is our comfort for all time.  The challenge is then, we now have no excuse why we cannot become a people Christ-determined. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, I have no doubt that being displaced as god and lord over our lives in painful, fearful and confusing, but when our first reaction is to clamp down and control, we must have a second reaction and that is to trust and to let go.  This is faith and this makes all the difference in the world.  Not only are we justified by faith in Christ, but we are continually living our daily lives in the faith of Christ.  Even when the world wants to remove Christ from his place as a head coach is removed, we must remember the only moving that can and must take place is for us to move out of his place and let Christ be God and Lord.  To God be the Glory for giving us Christ.  Amen. 

Ephesians 4: 11-16

¹¹ The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. ¹⁴ We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

Living around Lake Erie means having to deal with wind.  Whether that wind is a summer thunderstorm blowing over the water creating huge waves, or an “Alberta Clipper” blowing Lake Effect Snow through the trees and bushes, we know all too well how much the wind can toss things around.  We have seen the boats bobbing on the Lake like a cork, we have seen the trees swaying like a Samba dancer, we have seen the branches in the grass and the snow drifted in feet not inches.  We know how the wind can make things blow all over the place.

Just as the wind can blow things around, so too can things in this world blow us around spiritually.  The wind can blow a boat around on the lake, political leaders and their games can blow people all over the place regarding the issues of the day.  The wind can move through the trees threatening to push over or uproot, economic agendas and schemes can threaten to push people into unemployment, uproot retirement accounts, and drop people into poverty.  The wind can drift snow and pile leaves, and the Covid-19 virus has piled up hosts of the sick and dead.  We live in a world that tosses us around like a rag doll, with political tricks, economic hardships, and hidden viral assassins.  

Perhaps then in circumstances when the world tosses us about, the following Word of God is needed: we must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.  We can relate to the things that tossed the Ephesians around, because they still do to us, heresies, trickeries, craftiness, deceits, schemes.  Are these hardships not today’s politics, economics, medicine, life?  But the word that strikes out the most in this passage is the word children.  Only children or a better word the immature allow themselves to be blown around by these things.  Someone without experience and/or wisdom falls for the traps and games and schemes of the day, whether in religion, politics, or academics. 

If the children are tossed about, then the Word says, but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.  Children grow up and mature into adults with wisdom, experience, and endurance to cope with the problems of the age.  But in our case, we are not growing up into wisdom and perseverance in a literal sense, but we are growing up into Christ who is perfect wisdom, experience, and perseverance.  The one close to Christ is not tossed about because they are anchored in Christ and can weather the storms blowing around.  The closer to Christ, the greater the union and connection, and therefore the greater the storms that can be endured.  If we find ourselves tossed around, this might just be evidence we need to grow up into Christ more and more and find our true security and anchorage there.

In order to nurture growth, God through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, has given leaders to his people, the gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.  The leader’s task is to nurture growth in their charges until their grow up.  This is their God-given calling to help God’s people mature closer and closer into Christ and to greater weather the challenges of the day. 

If we find ourselves tossed about by the deceits of “Big-Tech,” or grieved by the political shenanigans of a political party or upset by the Church’s Spiritual direction or lack thereof or laid low by the virus and its complications and losses or scandalized by the divisiveness of violent factions of liberals and conservatives, all this only serves to prove the point: that if we are being tossed around. we have some growing up to do.  If we are being blown around, we need to move closer and closer into our collective union with the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  This means that as leaders we have callings to fulfill and people to nurture.  But it also means that as laity, we have prayers to say, scripture to study, worship to offer God, and service to our neighbors to perform.  We all need to grow up into Christ to become more mature.  As leaders and disciples let us set our faces to our callings and with love move ever forward to greater maturity in Jesus Christ.  Let the world’s wind wail as it may, give me the Grace of God to rest in any day! Amen.