Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church on Sunday, 10/8/17. The text is Philippians 3:4b-14 . This passage begins with a recitation of Paul’s pedigree. He came from the best stock. Paul goes into great detail about his heritage. He not only speaks of his lineage by birth, but that which made him tower head and shoulders above other men by virtue of his accomplishments. Today, DNA testing kits and family lineage sites like Ancestry.com are becoming more and more popular and accessible. We like knowing where we come from. It helps to give us perspective on where we came from and who we are now. Paul’s point in reflecting on his own personal history is that his personal history and even his historical religious identity did not define him in the same way as his relationship with Christ. (Sundaysandseasons.com). In the second paragraph, the great exchange Paul is referring to is exchanging good for the best. Paul’s pedig...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 10/1/17 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church. The scripture text is Philippians 2:1-13 .  Paul ’ s letter to the Philippians is one of my favorites. It is full of positive, uplifting theology, like “ Rejoice in the Lord always ; again I will say, Rejoice (Phil. 4: 4 ) . It ’ s a feel-good kind of letter. Today ’ s passage from Philippians is chock full of great stuff and I could get at least 10 sermons out of it, however I will settle on one.   The first four verses, in which Paul piles up the ifs, are one long conditional sentence in Greek. When we hear if , we think then . We are much more linear in our thinking than were the early Christians. If could be translated since. Another way to look at these verses is “ If you ’ ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ (and you have), if his love has made any difference in your life (and it has) and so forth. This makes for a more per...