Sermon: Trinity 7 (OT)
14 July AD 2013
Seventh Sunday after Trinity
Title: Living Creatures (MP3 Audio)
Summary: “The man became a living creature” — these simple words announce the commencement of human life.
So what is this “living creature”? Is it merely the sum total of the biological and chemical processes that take place in the body? Is it a soul (whatever that might be) that inhabits a fleshly shell for a time before shedding the body’s cocoon and moving on to a higher, spiritual existence?
Scripture doesn’t make such distinctions. We are neither souls traveling about in “meat taxis” nor purposeless brutes acting and reacting according to random circumstances. To be a “living creature” means to be body, mind, and spirit united. It means heartbeat and breathing, thoughts and emotions. Living includes our place in this Creation and our standing before God.
Christ came to redeem and restore not only the soul or spirit of fallen mankind but also to heal and remake broken bodies and tormented minds. His miracles of healing and feeding say to our sin-afflicted bodies what His words of forgiveness say to our sin-stained souls: “Behold, I am making all things new. (Revelation 21:5)”
Jesus came not to separate “bad” flesh from “good” spirit but to forgive us and thereby restore us each to the internal harmony that our race lost in the Fall. He came in the flesh to save flesh-and-blood creatures. He took wounds upon His body as a token of our bodies’ healing. His thoughts were troubled so He might ease our sorrowing hearts. His spirit remained pure that He might purify our souls and grant us a purposeful life in time and a pure and holy life in eternity.
We are living creatures. By faith in Christ, we live more deeply and completely than we could ever manage on our own. We already “have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10)” and trust His promise that life will be even more wonderful in the Resurrection.
Text: Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord
God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:7-17
Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Living Creatures. Preached to the saints of God at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Excelsior Springs, Missouri.
NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.
Other Readings: Psalm 33:1-11; Romans 6:19-23; Mark 8:1-9
Tags: Seventh Sunday after Trinity | 7th Sunday after Trinity | Trinity 7 | One Year Lectionary | 1 Year Lectionary | Christology | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | God | man | Creation | flesh | body | spirit | matter | word | life | living | Apostles’ Creed | First Article | Communion | Law | Law and Gospel | Gospel | 14 July 2013 | July 14, 2013 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Genesis 2 | lectionary | sermon | preaching | text | theme | Living Creatures | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings
Seventh Sunday after Trinity
Title: Living Creatures (MP3 Audio)
Summary: “The man became a living creature” — these simple words announce the commencement of human life.So what is this “living creature”? Is it merely the sum total of the biological and chemical processes that take place in the body? Is it a soul (whatever that might be) that inhabits a fleshly shell for a time before shedding the body’s cocoon and moving on to a higher, spiritual existence?
Scripture doesn’t make such distinctions. We are neither souls traveling about in “meat taxis” nor purposeless brutes acting and reacting according to random circumstances. To be a “living creature” means to be body, mind, and spirit united. It means heartbeat and breathing, thoughts and emotions. Living includes our place in this Creation and our standing before God.
Christ came to redeem and restore not only the soul or spirit of fallen mankind but also to heal and remake broken bodies and tormented minds. His miracles of healing and feeding say to our sin-afflicted bodies what His words of forgiveness say to our sin-stained souls: “Behold, I am making all things new. (Revelation 21:5)”
Jesus came not to separate “bad” flesh from “good” spirit but to forgive us and thereby restore us each to the internal harmony that our race lost in the Fall. He came in the flesh to save flesh-and-blood creatures. He took wounds upon His body as a token of our bodies’ healing. His thoughts were troubled so He might ease our sorrowing hearts. His spirit remained pure that He might purify our souls and grant us a purposeful life in time and a pure and holy life in eternity.
We are living creatures. By faith in Christ, we live more deeply and completely than we could ever manage on our own. We already “have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10)” and trust His promise that life will be even more wonderful in the Resurrection.
Text: Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LordGod planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:7-17
Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Living Creatures. Preached to the saints of God at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, Excelsior Springs, Missouri.
NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.
Other Readings: Psalm 33:1-11; Romans 6:19-23; Mark 8:1-9
Tags: Seventh Sunday after Trinity | 7th Sunday after Trinity | Trinity 7 | One Year Lectionary | 1 Year Lectionary | Christology | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | God | man | Creation | flesh | body | spirit | matter | word | life | living | Apostles’ Creed | First Article | Communion | Law | Law and Gospel | Gospel | 14 July 2013 | July 14, 2013 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Genesis 2 | lectionary | sermon | preaching | text | theme | Living Creatures | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings
posted by Xrysostom | 10:00
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home